House 

and 

Home 

U 


TKttoman'0  Ibome  library 
0 

EDITED  BY  MRS.  MARGARET  E.  8ANQ8TER 

A  SERIES  OF  PRACTICAL  BOOKS  ON  PRAC- 
TICAL SUBJECTS  BY  THE  BEST  AUTHORITIES 

EACH  SMALL  I2MO.        CLOTH.    ILLUSTRATED.        Sl.OO  NET. 
1-WOMEN'S  WAYS  OFEARNING  MONEY 

BY  CYNTHIA  WESTOVER  ALDEN 

PRESIDENT-GENERAL  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  SUNSHINE  SOCIETY 

2-THE  MOTHERS'  MANUAL 

BY  EMELYN   L.  COOLIDQE,   M.    D. 

VISITING  PHYSICIAN  OF   THE   OUT-PATIENT    DEPARTMENT   or    THI 

BABIES-  HOSPITAL,  N.  Y.,  ETO. 

3-BEAUTY  THROUGH  HYGIENE 

COMMON  SENSE  WAYS  TO  BEAUTY  AND  HEALTH 

BY  EMMA  E.  WALKER,  M.  O. 

MEMBER  OF  THE  N.  Y.  ACADEMY  OF  MEDICINE,  BTC. 

4    HOUSE  AND  HOME 

A  PRACTICAL  BOOK  ON  HOME  MANAGEMENT 
BY  MISS   M.    E.  CARTER 

5-THE  COURTESIES 

A  HANDBOOK  OF  ETIQUETTE 

BY  MISS  ELBANOR  B.  CLAPP 

6    CORRECT  WRITING  AND  SPEAKING 

BY  MISS  MARY  A.  JORDAN 

PROFESSOR  OF  ENGLISH  LITERATURE,  SMITH  COLLKGK 

Mrs.  Sangster's  Series  constitute  the  most  helpful  and 
suggestive  practical  home  library  which  has  been  planned. 

V 

a.  S.  Barnes  &  Company 

156  Fifth  Avenue  New  York 


THE  WOMAN'S  HOME  LIBRARY 
Edited  by  MARGARET  E.  SANGSTER 


House  and  Home 


A   Practical  Book  on   Home 
Management 


Mary  Elizabeth  Carter 


5 


NEW  YORK 

A.  S.  Barnes  &  Company 

1904 


Copyright,  1904, 
BY  A.  S.  BARNES  &  CO. 

September 


*''•:,••••      -   . 

'-•-•;: 

•         !  , 


To  the  bone  and  sinew  of  our  nation,  those 
who  are  comfortably  off,  far  removed  from  the 
millionaire-realm,  equally  far  removed  from 
those  whose  lives  are  hard,  sad,  and  laborious, 
these  pages  are  addressed.  Through  the  ex- 
amples which  they  set  and  the  character  of  the 
homes  which  they  build  up,  will  this  country 
stand  or  fall. 

"  Everything  that  a  dwelling  contains  is  bathed  in 
an  ether  of  personality." — Charles  Wagner. 


369402 


CONTENTS 


tr 

CHAPTER  TAG* 

I.     CHOOSING  A  HOME    .        .        .11 
II.     PACKING  TO  MOVE    ...       30 

III.  CLEANING     AND     SETTLING     A 

HOME 43 

IV.  FURNISHING  THE  HOME    .        .      61 
V.     BED  CHAMBERS  ....       79 

VI.     BATH    ROOM    AND    BATH-ROOM 

ETIQUETTE       .        .        .        .87 
VII.     CARE  OF  BEDS  AND  BEDSTEADS    .      96 
VIII.     SERVANTS'  ROOMS        .         .         .112 
IX.     SERVANTS'    RIGHTS    AND    PRIVI- 
LEGES        123 

X.     ENGAGING     AND     DISCHARGING 

SERVANTS         .        .        .        .135 
XI.     KITCHEN  AND  COOKING      .         .147 
XII.     To    OBTAIN    AND    RETAIN    THE 

IDEAL   SERVANT       .        .        .158 
XIII.     TRAINING   A   MAID   IN   TABLE- 
SETTING   165 

7 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

XIV.    TRAINING  A  MAID  FOR  WAIT- 
ING ON   TABLE    .        .        .172 
XV.     CHILDREN'S  PLACE  AND  RIGHTS 

IN  THEIR  OWN  HOME         .     186 
XVI.     HOME  NURSING       .        .        .    207 
XVII.     HOME  NURSING   (continued)    .     220 
XVIII.    THE  UNPAID  WORKING  HOUSE- 
KEEPER         ....    239 
XIX.     BOOKS   THAT    SHOULD    BE    IN 

THE  HOME   ....    248 
XX.     MISCELLANEOUS     HINTS     FOR 

HOUSEWIVES          .        .        .    256 


U        EDITOR'S    INTRODUCTION-       tf 


THE  house  is  the  shell  of  the  home,  the  out- 
ward 'and  visible  sign  of  the  inward  and  spiritual 
grace  which  abides  within  its  walls.  Therefore 
everything  that  concerns  the  house  is  important, 
and  no  detail  is  insignificant.  The  house,  it  is 
true,  perishes  with  the  using,  and  must  be  con- 
tinually renewed,  beautified,  and  strengthened, 
that  it  may  continue  to  be  the  appropriate  shrine 
for  the  home,  which  is  of  enduring  substance. 
This  is  a  truth  to  be  forever  repeated  over  and 
over  in  emphatic  statement,  all  the  more  that  we 
live  in  a  day  when  lax  ideas  of  its  sacredness  have 
in  some  quarters  obtained  a  footing  and  menaced 
the  solidity  of  the  home.  In  the  home  the  family 
attains  its  finest  development,  and  only  as  house 
and  home  together  approach  the  perfect  ideal, 
can  the  family  receive  its  best  nurture,  and 
realize  its  highest  usefulness. 

Miss  M.  E.  Carter,  the  author  of  this  excel- 
lent and  practical  treatise  on  "  House  and 
Home,"  knows  whereof  she  speaks.  She  under- 
stands the  ordinary  routine  of  the  ordinary  home, 
where  comfort  is  sought  rather  than  display, 
where  dignified  economy  must  be  enforced,  and 
where  self-respecting  people  scorn  to  live  beyond 
9 


io        EDITOR'S   INTRODUCTION 

their  honest  means.  To  the  young  housekeeper 
her  suggestions  will  be  pertinent  and  timely; 
replete  with  hints  for  which  more  pretentious 
volumes  might  be  laboriously  searched,  sometimes 
in  vain.  The  experienced  matron  will  read 
these  pages  with  approval,  finding  her  own  ideas 
confirmed,  and  her  views  broadened,  because  the 
writer's  standpoint  is  thoroughly  up  to  date,  a 
necessity  not  to  be  overlooked  in  a  manual  of 
housekeeping  and  homemaking  in  our  advanced 
days. 

The  book  is  not  didactic.  It  is  relieved  by 
humor,  and  enriched  by  pleasing  anecdote  and 
clever  illustration. 

The  Woman's  Home  Library  preserves  in 
every  issue,  the  keynote  of  adaptability  to  the 
common  lot  and  the  simple  life.  This  keynote 
has  not  been  lost  in  "  House  and  Home." 

Whether  the  author  treats  of  foundations  as 
when  writing  about  the  cellar,  or  of  the  shelter- 
ing roof  which  must  be  impervious  to  wet 
weather  and  wind,  of  the  bath-room,  the  kitchen, 
the  living-room,  or  my  lady's  chamber,  she  is 
direct,  lucid,  and  pithy. 

The  book  she  has  written  will  prove  itself  a 
household  friend. 

MARGARET  E.  SANGSTER. 


CHAPTER  ONE 


CHOOSING  A  HOME 


Three  points  foremost  in  importance.      Landlords'   criminal  negli 

gence   about   sanitary     plumbing.      Main    traps.      Hot    water 

supply.      Tragic  death  from  falling  chimney. 


N  order  that  this  book  shall  prove 
of  the  most  practical  value 
to  the  largest  possible  number 
of  readers,  specific  attention 
has  been  given  throughout  to 
questions  of  expense. 

Whether  a  house  is  to  be  built,  purchased,  or 
leased,  or  an  apartment  rented,  the  matter  of  cost 
is  of  importance  to  the  great  majority,  and  the 
advice  given  in  these  pages  is  intended  to  be  prac- 
tical. 

This  question  of  cost  must  be  kept  closely  in 
mind  in  dealing  with  architects  and  builders. 
While  they  are  trained  for  this  work  they  are 
liable  to  errors  of  judgment.  They  may  be  dis- 
posed to  be  lavish  in  their  expenditures  and  not 
as  careful  in  regard  to  the  expenditures  of  the 
ii 


12  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

money  of  others  as  they  would  be  in  their  own 
case. 

The  especial  weakness  of  architects  is  shown 
in  an  undue  concern  for  what  they  term  the 
architectural  line.  To  that  they  often  sacrifice 
the  interior  comfort  and  good  ventilation  of  a 
house.  Therefore  those  who  leave  the  planning 
of  their  houses  entirely  to  an  architect  usually  find 
cause  later  to  regret  their  exceeding  trustful- 
ness, and  if  they  can  afford  the  extra  outlay,  are 
apt  to  spend  several  years  and  considerable 
money  in  making  necessary  changes  to  correct 
serious  faults  in  the  new  home.  Especially  on 
the  lower  and  top  floors,  where  it  is  particularly 
needed,  the  average  architect  neglects  to  arrange 
for  good  ventilation,  and,  in  his  anxiety  about 
appearances  rarely  plans  to  utilize  all  the  avail- 
able space  to  provide  ample  closet  room.  His 
planning,  when  not  modified  and  improved  upon 
by  suggestions  of  an  experienced  housewife, 
often  reminds  one  of  a  showily  dressed  person 
who  is  minus  comfortable  underclothing.  Win- 
dows for  show  or  ornament  take  precedence  be- 
fore windows  that  are  easy  to  open,  close,  and 
keep  clean.  A  marked  improvement  would 
soon  appear  in  their  designs  if  architects  could  be 
compelled,  for  a  time,  to  occupy  the  houses  which 


CHOOSING  A  HOME  13 

they  plan.  Then  they  would  design  no  windows 
that  could  not  easily  be  opened  wide  enough  for 
cleaning  their  outsides  comfortably  and  also  for 
reaching  every  part  of  the  blinds  when  dusting 
them.  Doors  would  not  open  one  against  an- 
other to  their  serious  detriment — damaging  fur- 
niture with  the  risk  of  hurting  persons  moving 
in  haste,  in  and  out. 

Whatever  one  requires  when  building  or  buy- 
ing a  house  is  also  desirable,  as  far  as  may  be  pos- 
sible to  secure  it,  when  one  is  renting.  In  every 
case  three  things  stand  foremost  in  importance — 
the  condition  of  the  roof;  the  wholesomeness 
and  convenience  of  the  cellar;  and  the  character 
of  the  plumbing.  Whether  the  home  be  hand- 
some and  expensive  or  simple  and  inexpensive,  a 
tight  roof,  a  dry  and  well-arranged  cellar,  and 
sanitary  plumbing  throughout  are,  each  and  all, 
indispensable  to  comfortable  living  and  the 
preservation  of  the  occupants'  health.  These 
three  very  important  portions  of  every  house 
worthy  to  be  converted  into  a  home  should  be 
carefully  examined  at  the  outset,  and  if  any  one 
of  them  should  prove  seriously  objectionable,  or 
past  reformation  without  expense  beyond  the 
purse-limit,  no  further  time  should  be  wasted 
investigating  other  parts  of  the  premises.  A 


14  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

leaky  roof  entails  perpetual  unrest  in  the  house- 
hold whenever  it  rains,  and  unexpected  expenses 
that  can  never  be  estimated.  Besides  this  the 
housewife  all  the  time  will  be  vexed  by  unsightly 
walls  and  ceilings,  falling  plaster,  and  general 
untidiness  on  the  upper  floor,  with  the  ever  pos- 
sible danger  of  water  leaking  through  to  the 
floor  below,  damaging  whatever  it  wets.  No 
one  can  foresee  where,  when,  or  what  mischief 
may  be  done  through  a  leaky  roof. 

A  damp  cellar  affects  the  entire  house,  making 
an  unwholesome  atmosphere  throughout  the 
building.  Dampness  invariably  unfits  it  for 
the  numerous  uses  to  which  a  good,  dry  cellar 
may  be  put.  It  also  deprives  the  housekeeper  of 
an  important  storing  place  for  trunks,  boxes,  and 
countless  articles  that  might  always  find  tem- 
porary harbor  in  a  dry  cellar  and  thus  relieve 
other  portions  of  the  house  of  things  temporarily 
out  of  use,  awaiting  their  times  of  service.  A 
dry,  well-ventilated,  and  light  cellar, — con- 
veniently partitioned  off  for  wood,  coal,  barrels 
of  winter  vegetables  and  fruit,  with  closets  and 
storerooms  for  an  orderly  arrangement  of  every- 
thing consigned  to  it, — contributes  greatly  to 
ease  in  housekeeping  and  is  a  good  housewife's 
delight.  But  a  damp,  dark,  non-ventilated 


CHOOSING  A  HOME 


cellar  is  a  perpetual  nuisance — really  worse  than 
none  at  all,  because  it  is  an  unceasing  menace  to 
the  health  and  life  of  those  who  are  doomed  to 
dwell  over  it. 

The  stairway  leading  down  to  the  cellar  ought 
to  be  strong,  and  wide  enough  for  taking  bulky 
things  up  and  down  without  striking  and  defac- 
ing the  wall.  The  balusters  and  the  whole 
structure  should  be  so  firm  as  to  insure  the  safety 
of  those  who  are  obliged  to  use  it.  These  pre- 
cautious  are  not  so  costly  in  the  end,  as  unwhole- 
some or  rickety  conditions  frequently  prove. 
Many  pretentious-looking  houses — built  to  sell 
— have  disgraceful  cellars,  altogether  unfit  for 
any  use.  "  Penny  wise  and  pound  foolish," 
should  be  written  over  their  lintels.  Show  me 
the  cellar  of  a  house  and  I  will  read  for  you  the 
character  of  the  person  responsible  for  its 
character. 

The  subject  of  plumbing  would  seem  to  have 
been  thoroughly  exploited  through  pen  and  voice 
and  law.  Nevertheless  many  house-owners  are 
persistent  transgressors  of  the  laws  and  utterly 
unconscionable  about  the  unsanitary  plumbing 
of  the  houses  which  they  lease  to  unwary 
tenants.  Few  people  realize  the  vital  impor- 
tance of  having  the  plumbing  in  their  homes  as 


16  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

perfect  as  modern  science  can  make  it.  And  no 
one  can  estimate  the  constitutions  that  have 
been  broken  down  and  the  varied  forms  of  suf- 
fering that  have  been  entailed  upon  defenseless 
human  beings  because  of  the  culpable  negligence 
of  landlords  and  their  tenants'  ignorance  with 
regard  to  the  unsanitary  plumbing  of  their 
houses.  It  is  amazing  to  learn  what  landlords 
are  sometimes  guilty  of  in  their  determined 
efforts  to  evade  the  law  and  escape  expense.  An 
illustration  of  this  came  to  the  writer's  knowl- 
edge some  time  ago.  While  regularly  visiting 
the  old  Tombs  in  New  York  for  the  purpose  of 
seeing  how  the  unfortunates  there  incarcerated 
were  treated,  the  case  of  a  young  man  in  one  of 
the  cells  proved  unusually  interesting.  He  con- 
fided the  story  of  his  life  to  the  writer.  It  was 
sad  and  bad.  He  was  an  adopted  child,  and  had 
received  many  advantages  with  a  good  educa- 
tion. And  yet  he  had.  committed  a  forgery  for 
which  he  had  paid  the  penalty  in  State's  Prison. 
Again  he  was  awaiting  trial  for  a  serious  offense 
against  the  law.  But  he  had  tried  to  lead  an 
honest  life  of  self-support  after  his  first  term  in 
prison  had  expired.  Although  he  gave  his  em- 
ployers satisfaction,  no  position  was  he  allowed 
to  fill  in  peace.  Someone  who  knew  his  past 


CHOOSING  A  HOME  17 

always  discovered  his  whereabouts  and  invariably 
caused  his  discharge  by  informing  his  employer 
that  he  was  a  "  State's  Prison  Bird."  No  one 
had  courage  enough  to  give  him  a  chance  after 
that.  Finding  his  endeavors  at  honest  work  fu- 
tile he  despaired  and  then  went  and  joined  one 
like  himself.  Together  they  put  up  some  shady 
jobs  for  getting  money  to  live.  The  other  knew 
all  about  plumbing  and  was  an  expert  examiner. 
The  two  went  about  calling  at  houses  and  repre- 
senting themselves  as  city  employees,  officially 
engaged  in  the  business  of  investigating  and  de- 
tecting the  character  of  the  plumbing  in  houses 
of  the  district  that  they  were  visiting.  They 
often  found  it  unsanitary.  When  notifying  an 
unwilling  house-owner  they  gave  him  his  choice 
of  promptly  attending  to  the  required  work  or 
else  agreed  to  let  him  off,  if  he  would  pay  them  a 
much  smaller  sum  than  the  estimated  cost  of 
having  the  plumbing  overhauled.  Men,  sup- 
posedly reputable,  were  ready  to  evade  the  law, 
bribe  the  supposed  officials,  and  neglect  the  un- 
sanitary plumbing  of  their  houses.  One  cannot 
but  feel  how  little  there  was  to  choose  between 
these  poor  hunted  criminals— who  had  forfeited 
their  chances  for  doing  honest  work  because  they 
had  been  detected  in,  and  paid  the  penalty  of, 


i8  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

their  wrong-doing — and  those  others  who,  al- 
though they  escaped  detection,  were  yet  unhesi- 
tating parties  to  a  double  offense  against  the 
law,  and  also  totally  indifferent  that  the  health 
and  lives  of  their  fellow-beings  were  endangered 
through  their  criminal  negligence.  Those  two 
guilty  associates  were  able  for  some  time  to 
turn  many  a  dishonest  dollar,  aided  and  abetted 
by  their  accomplices,  the  guilty  landlords.  Al- 
though never  detected  the  two  conspirators  after 
a  while  grew  tired  of  their  plot,  because  it  did 
not  yield  larger  returns.  The  next  downward 
step  led  to  arrest  and  eleven  months'  waiting  in 
the  Tombs  for  a  trial. 

Crimes  of  reputable  citizens  are  little  known. 
Crimes  against  criminals  are  many  and  less 
known.  The  story  of  both  has  yet  to  be  written, 
but  ample  material  awaits  the  writer  who  may 
choose  to  undertake  the  task. 

Perhaps  this  seems  to  be  a  digression.  But, 
if  these  be  undeniable  facts,  assuredly  inexperi- 
enced people  need  every  possible  warning  to 
guard  them  against  their  landlord's  reckless  neg- 
ligence of  duty  and  the  law. 

It  is  a  well-authenticated  fact  that  very  dele- 
terious exhalations  from  faulty  plumbing  have 
no  perceptible  odor.  This  makes  the  menace 


CHOOSING  A  HOME  19 

to  health  and  life  much  more  insidiously  danger- 
ous. Therefore  no  one,  when  looking  for  a 
house,  should  decide  to  make  it  a  home  until 
all  the  plumbing  has  been  scrutinized  by  a  con- 
scientious expert  and  then  pronounced  very  good 
in  the  strongest  sense  of  that  term  applied  to 
plumbing.  Amateurs  may  apply  the  peppermint 
test  and  also  examine  the  cellar-trap  leading  to 
the  street  sewer,  which  is  an  indispensable  feature 
of  thorough  house  plumbing,  and  ought  to  be  so 
constructed  as  to  discharge  everything  unob- 
structed and  with  no  backward  flow.  But  after 
all,  it  is  far  better  to  pay  an  expert  and  know  for 
a  certainty  that  the  plumbing  is  immaculate  or 
faulty  than  to  risk  broken  constitutions  and  doc- 
tor's bills  that  are  always  much  more  costly  and 
less  satisfactory  than  any  examiner's  bill  could 
possibly  be.  Here  the  old  adage  applies  forcibly : 
An  ounce  of  prevention  is  worth  a  pound  of  cure. 
After  being  convinced  that  the  roof,  the  cellar, 
and  the  plumbing  are  above  reproach  it  will  be 
worth  while  to  proceed  farther  and  examine 
other  important  parts  of  the  house.  The  rain- 
water leaders,  the  chimneys,  the  flues,  the 
kitchen  range,  and  the  size  of  the  boiler  that  is 
expected  to  furnish  the  supply  of  hot  water  for 
family  use,  the  furnace  or  steam  heater,  the 


20  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

laundry  (and  its  conveniences)  each  and  all 
should  receive  close  attention. 

The  kitchen  range  and  chimney  flue  are  ex- 
ceedingly important,  for,  however  capable  the 
cook,  it  is  useless  to  expect  good  cooking  without 
a  good  range  and  a  good  draught.  The  cook 
cannot  be  held  responsible  for  tardy  meals  or  for 
sending  in  unpalatable  food  if  compelled  to  use 
a  faulty  range  or  if  subjected  to  the  freaks  of  a 
defective  flue.  Her  "  heart  may  be  almost  broke 
over  it,"  but  that  will  not  remedy  the  defects. 
Moreover,  the  family  may  be  seriously  incon- 
venienced and  have  to  live  for  a  time  in  a  picnic 
way,  or  else  go  out  for  meals  while  these  matters 
are  being  set  right. 

Investigate  the  condition  of  the  leaders  to  see 
if  they  are  sound  and  clean — not  clogged — and 
that  they  deliver  the  rain  water  without  damage 
to  anything,  and  that  they  are  large  enough  to 
carry  during  a  long  and  heavy  storm  without 
overflowing  from  the  roof  and  flooding  all  below 
and  even  beating  in  doors. 

Examine  all  the  chimneys  above  the  roof  to 
be  assured  that  they  are  firm,  with  no  loose 
cement  or  bricks,  and  in  no  danger  of  falling  or 
being  blown  down. 

A  few  years  ago,  in  a  beautiful  city  of  great 


CHOOSING  A  HOME  21 

wealth,  a  young  lady — living  in  a  handsomely 
situated  house,  apparently  in  repair,  for  which 
a  good  price  was  paid — while  quietly  sleeping 
in  her  bed  was  killed  by  the  falling  of  a  chimney 
in  the  night.  The  bricks  and  heavy  paving 
stones  broke  through  the  roof  and  ceiling  and 
fell  upon  her  body.  She  was  terrified  and  so 
badly  hurt  that  she  died  very  soon  after  from 
the  effect  of  the  injuries.  Such,  miscalled,  acci- 
dents should  warn  all  who  hear  of  them  to  take 
nothing  for  granted,  but  investigate  every  part 
carefully  before  hiring  or  buying  a  house.  In 
these  cases  the  maxim,  used  in  law,  caveat  emptor, 
applies,  which  means  that  the  buyer  should 
beware  and  assure  himself  as  to  the  quality 
of  what  he  buys.  In  simple  English,  when  you 
have  every  opportunity  to  examine  what  you 
think  of  buying  (and  it  applies  also  to  renting) 
there  is  no  redress  for  you  through  a  legal  action, 
unless  you  can  prove  that  you  have  been  willfully 
deceived  by  the  other  party  when  you  were  not 
afforded  the  chance  to  find  out  particulars  for 
yourself. 

If  you  want  open  fires  and  good  draughts 
throughout  your  house,  then  you  must  test 
every  flue  as  you  pass  from  room  to  room. 
An  open  fireplace  with  attractive  tiling  by  no 


22  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

means  assures  one  of  a  strong  draught  up  a  well- 
constructed  flue.  On  the  contrary,  one  may  be 
woefully  disappointed  upon  making  the  first  at- 
tempt at  having  a  blaze  on  the  hearth  when, 
instead  of  beautiful  flame  pennons  soaring  and 
roaring  up  the  chimney,  a  choking,  blinding 
smoke  comes  pouring  out  into  the  room,  compel- 
ling unexpected  tears  even  from  manly  eyes, 
and  making  the  place  untenable  until  the  smudge 
is  smothered  and  all  the  smoke  has  evaporated. 
Nor  is  this  all,  for,  however  well  ventilated  the 
place  may  be,  nice  curtains  and  delicate  kirnish- 
ings  are  afterwards  found  smoke-damaged,  be- 
yond restoration  if  not  washable;  if  washable, 
an  extra  job  is  entailed  upon  the  house  laundry, 
or  extra  outside  laundry  expenses  deplete  the 
household  purse.  Those  expenses  could  not  have 
been  incurred  by  wary  ones  taught  through 
their  own  experience  or  forewarned  by  that  of 
others.  Besides  all  this  annoyance  it  wTill  be 
some  time  before  the  dead  old  smoke  ceases  to 
hang  about  the  place,  and  of  course  that  chimney 
flue  will  permit  no  open  fire  upon  the  hearth 
thereafter  until  its  fault  has  been  remedied. 
You  may  congratulate  yourself  if  it  only  needs 
cleaning  instead  of  examination  by  an  expert, 
<uid  then  reconstruction,  to  be  followed  by  an 


CHOOSING  A  HOME  23 

appalling  bill  of  expense.  Indeed,  there  are 
some  defective  flues  in  expensive  houses  that  defy 
every  effort  made  to  remedy  them — even  re- 
gardless of  the  cost.  There  is  but  one  way  in 
which  they  can  ever  be  made  to  draw — that 
they  do  continuously  upon  your  bank  account — 
as  long  as  experiments  are  being  made  upon 
them  to  improve  their  construction. 

Another  all-important  feature  of  a  house, 
upon  which  the  comfort  of  the  entire  family 
depends,  is  the  heating  apparatus. 

The  best  way  to  find  out  about  its  capacity  is 
to  make  inquiry  regarding  it  of  some  persons 
using  one  of  the  same  kind  in  some  other  house. 
You  should  try  to  get  a  perfectly  frank  state- 
ment as  to  its  heating  power  in  proportion  to 
its  consumption  of  fuel.  But,  of  course,  you 
must  also  learn  about  the  draught  and  other 
particulars  relating  to  the  house  that  you  have 
under  special  consideration.  People  who  neglect 
to  inform  themselves  in  advance  about  these 
matters  sometimes  discover  when  it  is  too  late 
that  the  cost  of  coal  for  heating  makes  such  un- 
expected inroads  upon  their  incomes  they  are 
compelled  to  abandon  the  cellar  heater  and 
warm  their  houses  with  stoves  and  open  fires. 
A  young  couple,  acquaintances  of  the  writer, 


24  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

after  meeting  with  sad  reverses  of  fortune,  went 
into  a  house  where  they  expected  to  live  eco- 
nomically until  the  business  prospects  of  the 
husband  should  improve.  After  a  brief  and 
very  expensive  experiment  they  found  that  the 
cellar  heater  consumed  such  an  amount  of  fuel 
without  warming  the  house,  that  they  could  not 
afford  to  use  it.  Consequently  they  were  obliged 
to  resort  to  stoves  with  all  the  increase  of  labor 
and  extra  trouble  to  keep  clean  that  stoves  cause. 
The  heater  in  their  cellar  is  always  empty,  cold, 
and  absolutely  useless. 

Before  beginning  to  look  at  houses  with  a 
view  either  to  renting  or  buying,  decide  upon  the 
price  that  you  can  and  will  pay  in  rent,  or  for 
purchase.  Keep  the  price  ever  -in  mind,  that 
you  may  waste  no  time  or  strength  in  looking  at 
houses  above  your  limit — unless  you  have  time 
and  vitality  to  throw  away.  House-hunting  is  a 
laborious  business  and  should  not  be  entered  into 
unadvisedly  or  lightly.  Devote  a  notebook  to 
it,  in  which  you  jot  down  every  item  that  con- 
cerns the  new  home.  On  page  I  set  the  price. 
After  that,  in  their  order  of  importance,  every- 
thing that  you  desire  to  find  in  the  house  that 
you  will  decide  to  take.  Never  go  to  look  at  a 
house  without  the  notebook  in  your  pocket.  As 


CHOOSING  A  HOME  25 

you  go  about  examining  the  building  and  the 
premises,  keep  the  notebook  open  in  your  hand. 
When  making  your  own  memoranda  before- 
hand, leave  several  blank  pages  between  your 
notes  regarding  the  requisites  for  the  house. 
Then  you  can  jot  down  the  advantages  and 
the  disadvantages  of  houses  that  you  visit  during 
your  quest. 

This  plan  will  prevent  your  confusing  one 
house  with  another,  and  will  be  less  fatiguing 
than  trying  to  remember  too  much  in  detail 
without  the  little  memorandum  book  for  refer- 
ences. It  may  also  prevent  some  very  decided 
differences  of  opinion  between  two  or  more  who 
go  house-hunting  together.  The  little  notebook 
will  keep  the  peace  when  everybody  is  tired  and 
perhaps  somewhat  cross  over  the  business. 

When  the  chief  points  of  a  house  prove  un- 
satisfactory it  is  wasteful  to  expend  any  further 
thought  or  strength  upon  it.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  if  you  find  a  house  with  its  roof  in  perfect 
order,  its  cellar  dry  and  well-arranged  with  a 
cemented  floor,  and  its  plumbing  equal  to  the 
severest  test,  you  may  reasonably  expect  to  find 
the  other  departments  well  kept  up  in  good  re- 
pair. On  the  other  hand,  if  any  one,  or  all  three, 
of  those  salient  features  should  prove  to  be  in 


26  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

bad  condition,  you  will  not  be  likely  to  find  the 
house  desirable  or  otherwise  in  repair.  Never 
be  misled  by  an  attractive  front  and  entrance. 
They  often  hide  a  multitude  of  defects.  It  is 
also  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  furniture,  pictures, 
and  screens  may  be  so  arranged  as  to  cover  very 
unsightly  and  objectionable  conditions.  Above 
all,  do  not  bind  a  bargain  before  you  inform 
yourself  regarding  the  healthfulness  of  the  lo- 
cality. A  friend  of  the  writer  lost  a  thousand 
dollars  by  deciding  quickly  upon  a  house  that  he, 
too  late,  discovered  was  not  in  a  healthy  neigh- 
borhood. He  gave  up  the  bargain  and  forfeited 
the  sum  that  he  had  paid  down  before  the  deed 
was  drawn  up. 

When  looking  for  a  house  take  nothing  for 
granted.  Inspect,  inspect,  inspect  every  portion. 
Accept  whatever  the  landlord  or  his  agent  may 
tell  you  about  it  with  generous  allowances  of 
salt.  Unremitting  vigilance  is  the  price  of  se- 
curing a  house  in  good  repair  as  well  as  of 
keeping  it  so. 

If  possible,  live  for  a  year  in  a  house  that  you 
think  of  purchasing.  Know  all  about  its  ad- 
vantages and  its  disadvantages  within  doors,  and 
also  all  about  the  neighborhood  and  the  soil  upon 
which  it  is  built,  whether  wholesome  or  un- 


CHOOSING  A  HOME  27 

wholesome.  There  is  nothing  like  occupying  a 
house  to  disclose  its  characteristics  and  to  un- 
cover very  objectionable  features  that  may  easily 
be  overlooked  when  you  are  going  over  it,  espe- 
cially if  it  be  occupied  and  furnished. 

Moving  is  hard  and  expensive,  but  better 
move  twice  than  buy  what  you  cannot  readily 
sell  without  a  great  sacrifice.  Remember  that 
buying  and  renting  are  far  easier  than  selling  or 
subletting  after  the  property  is  on  your  hands. 
The  more  anxious  you  are  to  be  rid  of  it  the 
harder  will  it  be  to  find  anyone  who  wants  it  at 
any  price. 

Every  reasonable  person  knows  that  a  house 
wrhich  has  not  been  just  renovated  will  probably 
require  some  repairs.  Painting,  papering,  wood- 
polishing  and  floor-staining,  when  necessary,  can 
be  done,  with  the  cost  estimated  beforehand,  if 
you  buy,  and  allowance  can  be  made  for  ex- 
pected expenses  that  will  keep  you  within  the 
purchase  price  that  you  feel  you  can  afford  to 
pay.  If  you  are  renting,  that  is  the  time  to  get 
from  your  landlord  more  repairs  than  he  will 
be  likely  to  make  after  you  are  living  in  the 
house.  Therefore  it  is  well  to  make  all  dis- 
coveries of  necessary  repairs  while  you  are  only 
a  prospective  tenant  and  the  owner's  anxiety  to 


28  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

secure  you  makes  him  readily  accede  to  your 
requests.  The  landlord  of  an  empty  house  and 
the  landlord  when  the  tenant  is  in  are  about  as 
different  to  the  tenant  asking  for  repairs  as  Dr. 
Jekyll  and  Mr.  Hyde. 

We  have  often  heard  it  remarked :  "  You 
must  build  one  house  before  you  will  know 
what  to  have  and  what  to  avoid/'  But  that  is 
practical  experience  dearly  bought.  It  is  wiser 
to  think  and  plan,  while  asking  questions  of  the 
experienced  before  making  a  beginning. 

Have  a  well-thought-out  general  plan  of  your 
own  before  consulting  an  architect.  When  you 
engage  his  services  lead  him,  and  do  not  be  led 
away  from  what  you  really  want  for  comfort 
by  any  suggestions  of  his,  unless  they  are  evi- 
dently better  than  your  own  ideas. 

The  architect  should  catch  your  thought  and 
draw  the  design  to  accord  with  what  you  tell 
him  you  must  have  in  the  new  house. 

Be  sure  at  the  outset  to  give  him  a  clear  idea 
of  what  you  desire  and  what  you  object  to,  and 
be  careful  to  mention  your  special  wishes  and 
special  objections  before  he  draws  any  design 
whatever.  By  so  doing  you  economize  his  time 
and  keep  down  expenses.  (Every  addition  or 
change  will  add  to  the  cost  of  his  work.)  When 


CHOOSING  A  HOME  29 

the  builder  takes  the  contract  the  work  should 
progress  without  interruption.  Above  all,  make 
no  changes  after  the  contract  has  been  signed, 
for  every  change  then  will  augment  the  con- 
tractor's charges.  Not  an  extra  window  or 
door  can  you  have  cut  without  paying  extra  for 
it.  No  one  can  possibly  estimate  the  final  cost 
of  a  house  when  the  plan  is  frequently  changed 
during  the  process  of  building. 


CHAPTER  TWO  TU 


PACKING  TO  MOVE 


Old  adage.      Begin  in  time.      Ample    packing  material.      An  art 

worth   cultivating.      Exclusiveness  the   law  of  good  packing. 

Self-respect  should  govern  moving  out. 


used  to  be  said  that  "  three 
removals  were  equal  to  one 
fire."  This  may  still  be  true 
in  cases  where  those  who  su- 
perintend the  business  do  not 
know  how  to  guard  against 
damage.  Probably  in  such  instances  in  less  than 
three  moves  more  irreparable  mischief  mighc  be 
done  than  in  one  ordinary  fire.  A  fire  has  at 
least  two  advantages  over  a  clumsy  move:  First, 
if  one  is  well  insured  things  can  be  replaced, 
when  they  are  damaged,  by  new;  next,  it  is  less 
trying  to  have  one's  belongings  destroyed  alto- 
gether than  to  have  them  marred,  but  still  too 
useful  to  be  cast  aside.  Almost  anyone  would 
rather  have  chinaware  broken  outright  than 
30 


PACKING  TO  MOVE  31 

cracked  or  nicked,  if  it  must  remain  to  be  used, 
while  ever  an  offense  to  the  eye. 

In  old  times  before  apartment  houses  had  be- 
come as  common  in  America  as  they  are  abroad 
people,  even  when  they  only  rented  their  homes, 
lived  longer  in  one  house  than  they  do  now  in 
those  that  they  own.  Moving  appears  to  be  the 
fashion,  and  many  families  seem  to  own  their 
homes  just  for  the  fun  of  leaving  them.  For- 
merly those  who  were  addicted  to  frequent  mov- 
ing laid  themselves  open  to  the  suspicion  of 
being  either  undesirable  tenants  or  neighbors, 
or  else  of  not  paying  their  rent.  The  ist  of 
May  was  the  common  moving  day  for  the  un- 
fortunates doomed  to  move,  and  people  of  the 
rolling-stone  class  often  were  obliged  to  go 
into  a  house  from  which  the  previous  tenant  was 
just  moving  out.  Then,  indeed,  was  pandemon- 
ium let  loose,  and  no  wonder  the  proverb  about 
three  removes  came  to  be  often  quoted.  But 
nowadays  these  conditions  are  less  common,  and 
moving,  when  it  takes  place,  can  be  done  decently 
and  in  order,  if  people  choose  to  be  methodical 
about  it. 

There  are  so  many  intermediate  states  that 
can  be  adopted  for  a  while,  if  people  wish  to 
make  moving  as  easy  as  possible.  Boarding, 


\ 


32  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

traveling,  or  a  hired  apartment  bridge  over  the 
time  between  leaving  one  house  and  getting  the 
next  into  living  condition  and  also  afford  the 
tired  housewife  a  chance  to  recuperate  her  forces 
before  entering  upon  the  campaign  of  settling  new 
quarters.  This  also  gives  time  for  having  all  nec- 
essary repairs  done  before  furnishing  or  occupying 
a  new  home.  Meanwhile  furniture  can  be  stored 
until  its  next  abiding  place  is  all  ready  for  it.  The 
main  object  is  to  avoid  the  confusion  commonly 
attending  a  move,  to  vacate  before  the  next  ten- 
ant arrives,  and  not  to  move  into  the  next  home 
until  it  is  clean  and  ready  for  furnishing.  By 
this  management,  and  with  good  packing,  the 
formidable  task  of  moving  a  family  and  all 
their  belongings  may  be  accomplished  with  some 
degree  of  gratification  and  comparatively  little 
strain.  But  good  packing,  which  means  abso- 
lutely safe  conditions  during  transit  of  things 
packed,  is  one  sine  qua  non  for  satisfactory  mov- 
ing. In  the  first  place,  then,  everything  that  is 
not  immediately  necessary  for  the  comfort  of 
the  family  should  be  packed  gradually  weeks  in 
advance  of  the  exodus,  so  that  towards  the  last 
nothing  will  remain  but  the  heavy  furniture 
and  a  small  amount  of  table  furniture  needed  up 
to  the  last.  In  the  unpacking  it  is  well  to  note 


PACKING  TO  MOVE  33 

that  the  order  will  be  reversed,  because  all  things 
packed  last  will  be  needed  first.  They  should 
be  marked  accordingly.  In  almost  all  houses 
there  are  countless  things  that  people  can  easily 
do  without.  All  of  these,  of  course,  come  first 
in  the  order  of  packing.  Pictures  and  all  orna- 
ments should  be  boxed  some  time  before  the  gen- 
eral move.  As  these  things  demand  care  and 
take  considerable  time,  if  they  are  properly 
guarded  against  damage  during  transit,  they 
should  be  made  ready  when  everyone  is  more 
at  leisure  than  they  can  possibly  be  later.  Next 
in  order  of  packing  come  all  the  best  china  and 
glassware  not  in  daily  use,  and  then  whatever 
kitchen  utensils  can  be  spared.  Every  article 
ought  to  be  thoroughly  scoured  and  cleansed 
and  perfectly  dry  before  being  packed.  It  is  a 
good  plan  to  get  a  large  sugar  barrel  early  and 
place  it  convenient  to  the  kitchen,  and  another  of 
excelsior  and  plenty  of  strong  wrapping  paper. 
With  these  at  hand  whoever  is  in  the  kitchen 
can  gradually  clean  and  pack  articles  that  can 
easily  be  spared,  a  few  at  a  time,  until  none  re- 
main but  those  which  are  in  constant  use.  This 
plan  insures  clean  utensils  when  unpacking  is 
done,  and  makes  the  work  very  easy  and  thorough. 
In  hurried  packing  there  is  not  sufficient  time 


34  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

for  carefulness,  and  the  result  is  just  what  one 
ought  to  expect — damage. 

Someone  may  exclaim:  But  how  forlorn  and 
bare  the  house  will  look  if  we  begin  so  early! 
Unless  people  can  afford  to  employ  expert  pack- 
ers to  come  in  at  the  last  moment  and  do  every- 
thing at  once  this  is  the  only  sure  wray  of  having 
one's  things  carefully  packed  without  overbur- 
dening and  overfatiguing  someone  in  the  family. 
Better  have  a  bare-looking  house  for  a  few  weeks 
before  leaving  than  to  have  the  mother  or  any 
member  of  the  family  tired  out  because  too  much 
work  is  left  to  be  crowded  into  a  few  days.  The 
important  thing  is  to  be  assured  that  there  will 
be  nothing  left  for  the  last  that  can  be  done 
earlier.  With  all  the  forethought  and  planning 
that  an  experienced  person  can  have  and  do, 
moving  is  arduous  and  a  tremendous  tax  upon 
those  upon  whom  the  burden  falls  most  heavily. 

From  start  to  finish  keep  on  hand  a  full  supply 
of  tags  for  marking  every  piece  and  parcel.  The 
tags  should  be  legibly  written  with  the  destined 
place  of  each  thing,  and  each  should  be  securely 
tied  or  tacked  on  with  a  view  to  rough  usage  in 
transit.  All  furniture  going  in  vans,  or  not 
boxed,  can  be  tagged  long  before  any  packing  is 
done. 


PACKING  TO  MOVE  35 

Barrels  are  excellent  for  almost  all  packing 
purposes,  and  they  are  easy  to  get,  safe  and  excel- 
lent for  table  ware,  ornaments,  and  whatever  is 
not  too  large  for  them.  They  hold  considerable, 
are  easily  handled  by  porters,  cheaper  and  safer  to 
move  than  heavy  boxes. 

Delicate  crystal  ware  carefully  packed  in  a 
barrel  can  be  sent  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pa- 
cific coast  intact.  Nothing  will  be  cracked  on 
the  way  unless  the  barrel  itself  should  be  broken, 
which  is  unlikely  without  a  railroad  accident. 
Of  course,  there  must  be  no  stinting  of  the  ex- 
celsior. Safe  and  orderly  packing  insures  peace- 
ful orderly  unpacking,  and  tends  to  promote 
general  good  humor.  Whoever  has  seen  the 
faces  of  people  when,  upon  opening  badly  packed 
goods,  they  found  some  of  their  best  belongings 
broken,  will  appreciate  skillful  packing  and 
realize  that  any  other  sort  is  time  and  material, 
as  well  as  transportation,  wasted. 

The  packer  should  always  take  a  list  of  all 
things  stowed  away.  Packages  and  lists  should 
be  numbered  alike.  This  method  simplifies  un- 
packing and  settling  because  it  prevents  anything 
from  being  opened  by  mistake  too  soon  and  saves 
things  from  lying  about  in  danger  of  damage 
before  a  suitable  place  can  be  prepared  for  them. 


36  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

It  also  expedites  the  finding  of  whatever  may  be 
needed  at  once. 

Every  memorandum  taken  should  be  put  into 
one  notebook  devoted  to  that  purpose,  and  so 
inscribed  on  the  cover  that  anyone  wishing  infor- 
mation regarding  the  whereabouts  of  an  article 
needed  can  easily  recognize  the  book  which,  how- 
ever, ought  to  be  in  safe  keeping  while  at  the 
same  time  easy  to  get  at  for  reference,  by  trust- 
worthy persons.  It  is  some  trouble  to  keep  these 
strict  memoranda,  but  it  pays,  as  all  who  make  a 
practice  of  so  doing  will  testify;  it  also  spares 
responsible  people  from  unnecessary  anxiety 
about  things  that  have  not  turned  up,  because 
immediate  recourse  to  the  memoranda  informs 
one  of  the  exact  package  which  contains  them. 
No  matter  how  carefully  you  put  things  up,  if 
you  forget  all  about  where  they  are,  there  will  be 
tiresome  worry  and  lengthy  searching  to  find 
them.  Once  upon  a  time  a  lady  had  suddenly 
put  into  her  care  a  lot  of  valuable  jewelry  be- 
longing to  a  young  girl,  who  had  gone  to  Europe 
and  left  it  behind  in  a  jewel  box  on  her  dressing 
bureau.  The  lady  was  full  of  crowding  cares, 
and  had  countless  things  to  attend  to.  Without 
making  any  memorandum  of  it  she  put  the  jew- 
elry very  carefully  in  one  corner  of  a  large  box 


PACKING  TO  MOVE  37 

of  silver  that  was  sent  to  the  country  home  of  the 
owner  of  the  trinkets.  It  so  happened  that  the 
silver  was  some  that  was  never  used  except  when 
a  very  large  evening  entertainment  was  given  by 
the  mother  of  the  young  girl.  As  a  matter  of 
course,  that  box  was  sent  to  a  closet  where  glass 
and  china  for  extra-large  evening  entertainments 
were  kept.  The  little  girl,  upon  her  return  from 
abroad,  naturally  inquired  for  the  jewelry.  After 
searching  every  box  of  valuables  in  vain  the  lady, 
while  quite  certain  that  the  things  were  safe 
and  would  turn  up  some  time,  gave  up  looking, 
but  did  not  give  up  racking  her  brain  for  some 
clew  to  the  mystery.  No  memorandum  had  she 
made  of  that  particular  parcel's  whereabouts. 
After  several  devitalizing  days  of  hunting  and 
puzzling  over  the  matter,  all  at  once  flashed  into 
her  mind  the  strong  oak  box  out  of  sight  and, 
until  then,  out  of  mind.  Without  delay  she  sped 
away  upstairs  to  the  closet  and,  unlocking  the 
box,  there,  to  her  own  immense  relief,  beheld  the 
package ;  but  the  point  is,  if,  at  the  time  of  taking 
it  in  charge,  she  had  promptly  made  a  note  of 
it,  she  would  have  spared  herself  mental  wear 
as  well  as  much  loss  of  time  that  was  spent  in 
searching  more  than  once  in  places  where  the 
missing  baubles  were  not.  Therefore,  all  the 


38  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

way  long  we  chant  the  praises  of  a  faithfully 
kept  book  of  remembrance  in  moving  times,  and 
also  in  the  more  quiet  housekeeping  days  after 
the  home  is  in  running  order.  The  fact  is  that 
no  mind  should  be  charged  with  a  lot  of  things 
to  be  remembered  that  can  just  as  well  be  re- 
called, when  needed,  by  reference  to  memoranda, 
since  there  is  so  much  valuable  knowledge  which 
can  only  be  acquired  by  exercise  of  the  memory. 
The  first  are  only  for  temporary  use  and  may 
then  be  dismissed  from  one's  thought,  but  the 
other  is  forever  increasing  and  useful  all  the 
time.  Therefore,  the  mind  and  memory  should 
be  devoted  to  storing  up  what  is  worth  keeping 
and  thinking  about,  not  spent  on  comparatively 
trivial  matters.  It  is  something  of  an  effort,  and 
worth  cultivating,  to  know  how  to  distinguish 
beween  what  we  should  memorize  and  what  is 
only  worthy  of  perishable  paper. 

When  packing  begins  in  good  earnest  there 
should  be  plenty  of  tissue  paper  and  excelsior  on 
hand  for  that  work.  Any  economy  in  the  use 
of  soft  packing  stuff  usually  eventuates  in  dire 
extravagance  in  the  way  of  destruction  and  woe- 
ful disappointment  when  unpacking  is  done. 
Far  better  is  it  to  use  too  much  than  too  little 
protection  against  breakage.  Begin  always  with 


PACKING  TO  MOVE  39 

a  thick  bed  of  excelsior  at  the  bottom,  and  be 
sure  that  every  breakable  article  has  a  bed  of  its 
own  and  touches  nothing  else.  Exclusiveness  is 
the  law  of  all  safe  packing.  Each  thing  should 
be  immovable,  when  once  it  is  packed,  no  matter 
how  roughly  the  barrel  may  be  handled  by 
porters  or  expressmen.  Everything  should  be 
wrapped  in  tissue  paper  before  it  is  laid  in  the 
excelsior.  China  and  glass,  indeed  all  delicate 
or  brittle  things,  should  be  packed  by  themselves 
in  one  case,  and  strong  articles  by  them- 
selves. 

Dainty  bedroom  belongings  ought  to  be  put  up 
in  pasteboard  boxes — everything  first  nicely 
wrapped  in  white  tissue  paper — each  box  marked 
for  the  owner's  next  room  in  the  new  home. 
Then,  no  matter  who  opens  and  puts  things  in 
order,  all  will  find  their  own  belongings 
waiting  for  them  instead  of  having  to  begin  an 
immediate  rearrangement  of  misplaced  pin- 
cushions, bureau  covers,  and  the  other  various 
toilet  articles  of  different  members  of  the  fam- 
ily. "  Oh,  what  a  lot  of  trouble!  "  I  hear  some- 
one exclaim.  Well,  just  bear  in  mind  that  you 
will  escape  much  more  trouble  in  settling;  be- 
sides, those  who  do  not  enjoy  and  cultivate  or- 
derly methods  will  not  be  happy  in  heaven,  as 


40  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

order  is  the  first  law  of  the  kingdom  of  har- 
mony. 

Kitchen  utensils  ought  to  be  wrapped  in  very 
strong  paper  before  they  are  packed.  Paper 
wrappers  prevent  the  excelsior  from  getting  into 
things  and  from  being  scattered  at  unpacking 
times.  Every  utensil  before  it  is  put  up  should 
be  scrupulously  cleaned  for  the  sake  of  having 
it  ready  for  use  as  soon  as  unpacked  and  because, 
if  stowed  away  from  the  air  for  a  time  when  not 
immaculately  clean,  it  will  be  unpleasant  when  it 
does  come  forth  into  the  light  and  air,  and  doubly 
hard  to  cleanse  after  being  packed. 

Whenever  and  wherever  packing  may  be  done 
it  saves  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  have  a  large 
square  of  unbleached  muslin  first  spread  down 
and  all  the  barrels  and  packing  stuff  kept  upon 
it.  Then,  when  the  work  is  over,  the  four  corners 
of  the  muslin  should  be  brought  to  the  center 
and  everything  taken  up  at  once  without  any 
sweeping  before  the  waste  material  is  sent  to  the 
trash  heap.  There  is  neither  reason  nor  excuse 
for  reckless  untidiness  while  packing  is  going  on  or 
after  it  is  done.  This  applies  to  packing  of  every 
sort.  The  appearance  of  some  rooms  after  the 
last  occupant  has  packed  one  trunk  and  departed 
indicates  the  mad  confusion  which  would  char- 


PACKING  TO  MOVE  41 

acterize  a  house  just  vacated  by  one  so  disorderly. 
If  conscience  and  a  decent  consideration  for 
others  are  not  sufficiently  influential,  one  would 
suppose  that  self-respect  would  govern  the  mov- 
ing out  as  much  as  personal  comfort  and  conven- 
ience. It  is  retributive  justice  beautifully  meted 
out  when  those  who  have  left  a  house  strewn 
with  rubbish  are  obliged  to  clean  out  a  like  con- 
dition from  the  house  into  which  they  are 
moving. 

In  packing  mattresses  and  pillows  they  should 
be  carefully  guarded  against  possible  soil.  They 
are  difficult  to  clean  and  cannot  be  easily  spared 
long  enough  for  that  to  be  done.  They  ought 
to  be  first  sewed  up  in  strong  muslin,  then 
wrapped  and  firmly  tied  in  heavy  paper.  This 
should  be  done  whether  they  are  boxed  or 
go  in  vans.  One  can  hardly  lay  too  much  em- 
phasis upon  the  care  that  should  always  be  given 
to  everything  pertaining  to  beds.  These  should 
also  be  marked  with  tags  fastened  securely.  One 
side  of  the  tags  should  be  legibly  inscribed  with 
the  name  of  the  proprietor  and  the  address  of 
the  new  house ;  the  other  with  the  room  to  which 
they  belong.  Painstaking  marking  insures  com- 
paratively easy  settling  and  avoids  extra  lifting 
and  moving. 


42  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

The  muslin  covers  should  be  left  on  all  mat- 
tresses until  the  house  is  in  order.  No  nice 
housekeeper  allows  mattresses  to  be  exposed  to 
dust  or  soil  of  any  sort,  either  in  moving  or  in 
housekeeping  times. 


CHAPTER  THREE 


CLEANING  AND  SETTLING  A  HOUSE 


Always  use  a  notebook  with  orderly  programme.      Get  rid  of  work- 
men before  cleaning.      Have  household  tools  and  utensils  ready 
in  advance  of  work.      Dustpan  and  whisk. 


HEN  settling  a  new  house  with 
all  its  furnishings,  also  new,  an 
inexperienced  housewife  may 
spare  herself  unnecessary  worry 
and  fatigue  by  thoughtfully 
planning  the  entire  business  from  start  to 
finish.  Of  course,  emergencies  may  arise  com- 
pelling occasional  departure  from  the  original 
outline;  nevertheless,  the  settling  will  go  for- 
ward more  rapidly  and  with  fewer  mishaps  if 
the  superintendent  have  ever  on  hand  for  refer- 
ence a  well-thought  out  and  orderly  programme 
of  all  the  work  to  be  done.  A  good  housewife 
is  never  without  her  notebook  in  which  she 
jots  down  ideas  that  will  further  the  work  of 
the  house  settling  and  housekeeping,  as  they 
occur  to  her,  or  that  she  gets  from  outside  sources. 
43 


44  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

A  well-kept  note  book  proves  an  energy-con- 
server,  a  time-saver,  and  a  peace-preserver  to 
many  besides  the  one  who  keeps  it. 

When  the  mind  is  crowded  with  unwonted 
cares  and  thoughts,  even  an  ordinarily  sound 
sleeper  may  become  wakeful  just  at  the  time 
when  most  needing  rest.  Then  the  brain  teems 
with  things  to  be  remembered  and  fear  of  for- 
getting makes  one  broad  awake.  A  simple  prac- 
tice soon  overcomes  that  sort  of  insomnia.  Every 
night  before  going  to  bed  have  a  candle  and 
matches  with  pad  and  pencil  on  a  table  beside  the 
bed.  Every  time  you  wake  with  a  good  idea, 
or  a  thought  of  something  that  must  be  remem- 
bered, light  the  candle  and  write  it  down.  This 
relieves  the  mind  and  you  can  go  to  sleep  feeling 
assured  that  you  have  captured,  and  can  have, 
the  thought  when  you  waken  in  the  morning  to 
transfer  to  the  invaluable  notebook.  Never 
crowd  your  notebook's  pages.  Space  everything 
so  that  when  looking  for  a  memorandum  your 
eye  will  quickly  light  upon  it.  A  closely  written 
notebook  is  better  than  none  at  all,  but  it  often 
taxes  one's  time  and  patience  sorely.  Before 
every  memorandum  write  in  large  letters  one 
word  indicative  of  the  subject  of  the  memoran- 
dum. The  nocturnal  notes  may  be  very  brief, 


CLEANING  AND  SETTLING        45 

even  consisting  of  but  one  word  as  a  reminder, 
because  the  thought  can  be  transferred  to  the 
notebook  more  fully  by  daylight.  In  periods 
of  unusual  strain,  during  night  hours  especially, 
one's  powers  of  self-control  are  tested  severely, 
but  the  plan  just  given  has  so  often  helped 
the  wrriter  at  times  of  immense  responsibility 
it  is  now  offered  with  the  hope  that  it  may  prove 
equally  efficacious  to  whoever  may  be  led  to  make 
trial  of  it.  Seeking  sleep  is  futile  while  the  mind 
is  overweighted,  or  given  to  sudden  flashes  of 
valuable  ideas  which  one  fears  to  lose  by  falling 
asleep — therefore  the  necessity  for  unburden- 
ing an  overcrowded  and  consequently  chaotic 
brain. 

When  about  to  settle  in  a  newr  house,  or  one 
already  vacated  where  you  have  full  possession, 
a  supply  of  fuel  should  be  laid  in  at  the  earliest 
opportunity  that  there  may  be  no  lack  of  hot 
water  to  delay  cleaning  or  to  prevent  the  workers 
being  refreshed  by  the  cup  that  cheers  without 
inebriating. 

Working  women  generally  are  not  well 
nourished.  They  live  on  very  light  food  as  a 
rule  and  need  to  be  looked  after  when  they  are 
working  hard  at  house-cleaning.  They  should 
be  provided  with  a  hot  lunch  and  have  at  mid- 


46  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

morning  and  mid-afternoon  a  little  light  refresh- 
ment. Most  of  them  are  satisfied  with  a  cup  of 
tea  and  bread  and  butter  at  these  times.  No  one 
ever  lost  anything  by  considering  the  comfort  of 
employees.  It  is  only  a  humane  duty  that 
should  require  no  urging  for  its  performance. 

In  advance  of  any  cleaning,  if  possible,  have  all 
workmen  out  of  the  house  unless  you  are  quite 
willing  to  pay  to  have  places  cleaned  several 
times  over  before  you  begin  to  live  in  your  new 
home.  The  average  mechanic  is  a  past  master 
at  making  a  mess  wherever  he  goes.  The  work 
that  he  causes  others  who  clean  up  after  him  is 
often  more  than  the  work  that  he  is  hired  to 
do. 

Permit  no  furniture  to  be  delivered  until  the 
house  is  spick  and  span  clean  and  all  ready  for  it. 
Then  as  things  arrive  they  can  be  permanently 
placed.  This  method  prevents  repeated  cleaning 
and  repeated  moving  of  furniture  before  it  is 
finally  placed  where  it  belongs.  It  is  therefore 
labor-  and  expense-saving,  and  at  the  same  time 
prevents  damage  which  frequent  moving  is  apt 
to  cause.  Above  all  never  leave  anything  for 
mechanics  to  push  out  of  their  way  when  they  are 
at  work,  for  they  are  no  respecters  of  any  polish 
that  they  do  not  put  on  themselves,  and  seldom 


CLEANING  AND  SETTLING       47 

think  of  washing  their  hands  before  taking  hold 
of  anything  that  hinders  their  progress,  be  it  ever 
so  delicate.  Moreover  the  best  things  are  none 
too  good — the  mechanic  seems  to  think — for  his 
tools  to  rest  upon. 

Two  stepladders — one  high,  one  of  medium 
size — should  be  on  hand  when  the  work  begins, 
also  brooms,  dustpans,  long-handle  floor  brushes, 
whisk  brooms,  a  pointed  hairbrush,  such  as 
painters  use  for  corners,  plenty  of  soft  cloths, 
cheese-cloth  dusters,  strong  sponges,  soap,  sapolio, 
washing  soda,  household  ammonia,  chloride  of 
lime,  concentrated  lye,  pulverized  borax,  ham- 
mers (large  and  small),  a  screw-driver,  tack 
lifter,  and  gimlet.  Whoever  requires  thorough 
cleaning  must  supply  the  appliances  and  im- 
plements customarily  used  to  expedite  work. 
There  should  be  also  three  or  four  large  squares 
of  double  unbleached  muslin — the  widest  that 
comes — for  coverings  and  to  spread  down  when 
unpacking  is  to  be  done.  A  good  manager  has 
also  plenty  of  calico  sweeping  covers  ready  to 
protect  furniture  unexpectedly  exposed  and  in 
danger  of  damage.  Besides  these  there  should  be 
a  supply  of  strong  heavy  paper  in  rolls,  soft  tissue 
paper,  and  old  newspapers  galore.  It  is  very  im- 
portant to  study  to  avoid  unnecessary  labor.  For 


48  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

this  object  these  latter  things  are  urgently  recom- 
mended for  house-cleaning  times. 

It  economizes  time,  labor,  strength,  and  money 
to  be  all  ready  with  suitable  working  tools  and 
etcs.  for  cleaning  before  anything  is  called  for. 
There  will  be  no  excuse  for  idle  hands  if  no  one 
has  to  wait  while  you  send  out  for  something 
that  has  been  forgotten  or  overlooked. 

If  you  are  so  unfortunate  as  to  be  obliged  to 
move  in  before  the  mechanics  have  finished  their 
work  and  departed,  give  them  a  wide  berth  as 
far  as  cleaning  is  concerned  and  do  none  in  their 
vicinity  until  they  and  their  tools  are  gone  for 
good. 

Getting  what  is  called  the  big  dirt  out  should 
begin  at  the  top  of  the  house  and  progress,  floor 
by  floor  and  stairway  by  stairway,  as  you  go 
down. 

The  first  sweeping  should  be  done  with  0  wet 
broom  to  control  the  dust,  and  the  water  used  for 
dampening  the  broom  ought  to  be  frequently 
changed.  The  closet  of  each  room  should  be 
swept  out  and  the  shelves  wiped  first  with  a  damp 
then  with  a  dry  cloth. 

The  secret  of  rapid  cleaning  is  not  to  allow 
dust  or  trash  to  spread  again  or  be  scattered  while 
the  work  proceeds.  In  a  room  of  ordinary  size 


CLEANING  AND  SETTLING       49 

the  sweepings  should  be  taken  up  at  least  five 
times:  viz.,  at  the  four  corners  and  in  the 
middle  of  each  room.  Any  common  box,  of  light 
weight,  answers  this  purpose.  Each  sweeper 
should  have  one  beside  her.  If  no  appropriate 
box  can  be  had  large  newspapers,  folded  and 
pinned  to  form  bags,  are  useful.  They  have  one 
advantage  because,  when  filled,  they  can  be  tied 
up  firmly  and  sent  directly  to  the  trash-can  with- 
out being  emptied.  This  keeps  undesirable  stuff 
from  being  scattered  below  or  outside  wThen  the 
garbage  collector  takes  it  away. 

After  the  first  sweeping  is  done  the  walls,  ceil- 
ings, door,  and  window-tops  should  be  freed  from 
dust.  For  walls  and  ceilings  use  a  broom  cov- 
ered with  a  very  clean  white  canton  flannel  bag 
or  else  a  piece  of  canton  flannel  pinned  firmly 
over  it.  Always  use  white  cloths  or  bags  so  that 
they  will  show  the  first  soil.  Change  them  fre- 
quently, because  using  a  dusty  cloth  defeats  the 
object  to  be  attained — cleanliness.  By  manage- 
ment this  work  may  be  done  with  a  moderate 
supply  of  broom  covers.  The  soiled  covers  can 
be  left  to  soak  in  a  tub  of  boraxed  water  and 
occasionally  washed  out  and  hung  to  dry  while 
the  clean  ones  are  in  use.  By  this  method  there 
will  always  be  clean  dry  covers  ready  to  take  the 


50  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

places  of  soiled  ones.  The  door  and  window- 
tops  should  be  very  carefully  wiped  with  a  damp 
cloth  and  a  dustpan  held  under  to  catch  any 
dust  that  might  otherwise  escape  the  cloth  and 
fall  into  the  room.  Window-frames  should  be 
wiped  in  the  same  way  before  any  glass  is  washed. 
When  once  the  entire  house  has  been  gone  over 
in  this  way  the  formidable  dirt  will  be  outside 
and  people  can  then  go  about  without  ruining 
their  clothes.  Unmethodical,  heedless  cleaning, 
so-called,  has  spoiled  the  clothes  and  the  disposi- 
tions of  a  good  many  people.  Before  the  shade- 
hangers  arrive  all  windows  should  be  washed  and 
polished,  and  the  window  sills  and  ledges  sponged 
with  clean  water.  This  warning  may  seem 
superfluous  to  some  of  my  readers,  but  I  have 
seen  beautiful  sash-curtains  of  delicate  silk  put 
up  over  windows  that  had  afterwards  to  be 
washed,  for  the  first  time,  in  a  new  house.  This 
made  handling  the  curtains  and  their  removal 
immediately  necessary  before  the  window-clean- 
ing. No  nice  manager  would  allow  such  topsy- 
turvy doings  if  given  time  to  plan  the  order  of 
the  furnishing. 

After  the  important  preliminaries  have  been 
attended  to,  all  regular  and  lighter  cleaning  can 
be  pushed  forward,  according  to  the  wishes  and 


CLEANING  AND  SETTLING        5' 

the  convenience  of  the  housewife  and  the  special 
needs  of  the  expected  family. 

When  giving  floors  their  second  cleaning  wet 
newspapers  will  be  found  very  good  substitutes 
for  cloths  or  mops.  They  are  far  less  trouble 
because  they  can  be  frequently  changed  and 
thrown  away,  when  soiled,  whereas  cloths  and 
mops  add  to  the  labor  because  they  take  extra 
time  for  wrringing  out  and  washing  them  clean. 
But  the  water  should  be  changed  often,  although 
not  so  often  as  when  a  cloth  or  mop  is  used.  The 
woman  who  has  not  learned  the  advantage  of 
keeping  clean  water  in  her  pail  has  not  been 
taught  the  first  principles  of  thorough  cleaning. 
She  smears  everything  that  her  cloth  touches  and 
cleans  nothing.  Whoever  experiments  with  wet 
paper  wrill  not  want  to  handle  a  mop  again  for 
any  lengthy  or  rough  cleaning.  The  third  and 
final  floor  cleaning  should  be  done  with  a  scrub- 
bing brush,  soap,  and  warm  water.  The  brush 
should  be  followed  by  a  soft  cloth  wrung  out  of 
clear  water,  to  wash  away  all  the  soap  suds,  and 
to  hasten  the  drying. 

Wherever  there  are  spots  that  do  not  yield 
easily  to  the  brush  they  can  usually  be  removed 
by  a  strong  solution  of  soda  in  hot  water.  This 
should  be  poured  on  them  and  left  with  cloths  or 


52  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

paper,  also  wet  in  the  same  solution,  lying  upon 
the  places.  After  the  cleaner  portions  of  a  floor 
have  been  scrubbed  the  spots  can  be  done  last  of 
all.  When  this  treatment  fails  the  last  resort  is 
the  carpenter's  plane,  although  pulverized  pumice 
sometimes  serves  the  purpose. 

In  cold  or  damp  weather  there  should  be  some 
sort  of  heating  apparatus  wherever  floors  are 
being  washed,  to  dry  the  atmosphere  and  hasten 
the  work.  No  floor  covering  should  be  laid  until 
everything  is  perfectly  dry.  People  would  not. 
get  colds  when  moving  into  new  quarters  if  they 
would  observe  ordinary  precautions  and  proceed 
in  a  common-sense  way  instead  of,  as  too  often  is 
the  case,  rushing  and  risking  everything  in  a  sort 
of  mad  haste  to  get  "  moved  in,"  as  it  is  called. 

A  house  cleaned  according  to  the  order  and 
methods  here  given  will  be  dry  and  will  not  show 
much  dust  accumulation,  from  the  inside,  for 
some  time.  Its  atmosphere  will  be  pure  and  de- 
lightful, and  there  will  be  no  old  dust  flying 
about  to  distress  sensitive  lungs  and  offend  a  neat 
housewife.  Whoever  has  been  in  the  midst  of, 
or  witnessed,  helter-skelter  workers  who  raised 
a  choking  dust  wherever  they  went  with  dry 
brooms  and  overloaded  dustpans,  will  realize 
the  advantage  of  a  method  which  tends  to  con- 


CLEANING  AND  SETTLING       53 

trol  dust  while  really  removing  it.  And  who- 
ever has  been  compelled  to  go  about  in  the  midst 
of  flying  dust  and  general  confusion  with  skirts 
held  up,  head  covered,  and  elbows  held  close  to 
avoid  soil — in  a  house  supposedly  being  cleaned — 
will  appreciate  genuine  cleaning,  which  domi- 
nates while  removing  whatever  is  objectionable 
and  maintains  order  at  every  step  of  the  busi- 
ness. 

Until  a  house  is  entirely  settled,  every  entrance 
should  have  a  mat  outside  and  a  piece  of  carpet 
or  strong  paper  inside  each  door.  Strong  paper 
should  be  laid  over  all  clean  or  polished  floors 
wherever  people  are  likely  to  tread.  All  of  these 
should  be  carefully  lifted  every  evening  and  the 
day's  dust,  collected  thereupon,  shaken  outside. 
Thoughtless,  careless  people  should  be  reminded 
by  legibly  written  notices,  posted  in  full  sight, 
that  the  doormats  are  there  for  their  use  and  the 
protection  of  the  house.  Posted  notices  are  quiet, 
impersonal  reminders  that  offend  no  one  and 
sometimes  spare  the  voice  and  the  feelings  of  the 
housewife.  In  two  minutes  one  reckless  person 
can  undo  the  cleaning  of  half  a  day. 

Had  I  the  versifier's  gift,  I  would  sing  the 
song  of  the  burnt-match  plague.  Burnt  matches 
thrown  about,  or  left  on  window-sills,  mantels, 


54  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

or  anywhere  but  in  suitable  receptacles,  are  un- 
tidy and  show  unpardonable  negligence  on  the 
part  of  those  who  leave  them.  Nice  housewives 
permit  nothing  of  the  kind  in  their  domains. 
One  of  the  first  of  the  furnishings  in  every  part 
of  a  house  should  be  match-safes  and  receivers  for 
burnt  matches.  These  not  only  promote  tidiness, 
but,  if  used  by  everybody,  they  prevent  an  alarm 
of  fire  or  a  conflagration.  Probably  the  ma- 
jority of  fires  are  caused  by  people  who  throw 
matches  down  heedless  of  the  disorder  caused  by 
their  lying  about  and  the  risk,  always  possible,  of 
their  not  being  extinguished.  Whether  the  spark 
be  dead  or  alive,  there  is  no  excuse  for  making  a 
tidy  place  untidy,  or  an  untidy  place  more  untidy, 
by  negligently  dropping  a  match  without  even 
looking  to  see  if  there  be  a  place  provided  for  it. 
Burnt  matches  are  not  ornamental.  They  do 
not  give  an  air  of  refinement  to  a  house  when 
they  adorn  the  front  steps  or  stone  window  sills, 
albeit  in  those  places  they  may  be  harmless. 

Door-cleaning  should  be  left  until  the  last  be- 
because,  during  the  general  settling,  there  is  so 
much  going  in  and  out  by  people  who  are  apt  to 
leave  generous  finger-prints  on  whatever  door 
they  open  or  close.  The  most  conspicuous  part  of 
the  door  is  about  the  knob,  and  cleaning  that  part 


CLEANING  AND  SETTLING       55 

often  is  apt  to  deface  the  paint  or  polish.  It  is  a 
good  plan  to  protect  the  most  exposed  portion  by 
fitting  a  piece  of  strong  paper  around  the  knob 
and  fastening  it  temporarily  with  a  little  paste 
that  will  wash  off  easily  and  not  injure  the  wood- 
work. 

All  floor-polishing  or  floor-staining  should  be 
left  until  the  very  last  settling  is  done  and  the 
house  has  ceased  to  be  a  highway  of  affairs  for  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  men  and  women,  either 
working  or  delivering  goods. 

Unless  the  house  be  entirely  new,  before  hav- 
ing any  beds  brought  in,  make  a  thorough  ex- 
amination of  the  wood-work,  the  plaster,  and  the 
paper  to  discover  if  vermin  of  any  sort  have 
lodged  there. 

This  is  a  case  where  an  ounce  of  prevention 
will  be  found  equal  to  a  ton  of  cure.  Destroy 
every  sign  and  vestige  of  any  objectionable 
insects  before  it  is  possible  for  them  to  get 
into  beds  or  any  furniture.  Nothing  is  a  more 
efficacious  vermin-destroyer  than  fumigation  done 
with  a  sulphur  candle.  This  is  very  easy  in  an 
empty  house,  but  it  can  be  done  at  any  time — 
along  with  proper  precautionary  measures.  In 
the  closing  chapter  of  miscellaneous  hints  for 
housewives,  will  be  found  directions  for  this 


56  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

fumigation.  Nothing  can  live  where  it  is  prop- 
erly done. 

After  a  house  is  thoroughly  clean  and  ready 
for  its  furniture  each  article,  as  it  arrives,  should, 
if  possible,  be  taken  by  the  men  who  deliver  it 
directly  to  its  destined  place.  When  this  plan  is 
followed  a  house  can  be  put  in  order  much  sooner, 
and  with  far  less  labor  and  expense,  than  if  those 
who  deliver  the  furniture  are  allowed  to  set 
articles  down  in  halls  or  rooms  from  which  they 
must,  sooner  or  later,  be  removed.  Whenever 
there  is  doubt  about  placing  things  have  them 
put  as  near  as  possible  to  the  spot  which  they  will 
probably  occupy  or  on  the  floor,  at  least,  where 
they  belong  as  indicated  by  their  tags. 

When  carefully  packed  goods  are  about  to  be 
unpacked  a  large  square  of  the  unbleached  mus- 
lin, referred  to  earlier  in  this  chapter,  will  come 
into  service.  It  should  be  spread  down  in  a 
vacant  room  with  empty  barrels  at  hand  to  re- 
ceive the  excelsior  and  all  the  packing  stuff. 
With  the  barrel  or  box  to  be  unpacked  in  the 
middle  of  the  cloth,  you  can  guard  against  letting 
the  excelsior  get  scattered.  To  prevent  this  the 
corners  and  sides  of  the  muslin  should  be  often 
lifted  and  every  bit  of  the  excelsior  shaken  well 
toward  the  middle.  Each  barrel,  when  filled, 


CLEANING  AND  SETTLING       57 

should  be  sent  below,  either  to  the  trash  place  in 
the  cellar  or  else,  if  a  thrifty  housewife  wishes  it 
kept  for  kindling,  it  ought  to  be  snugly  stowed 
where  it  can  be  reached  easily,  but  not  allowed 
to  litter  the  cellar  or  be  too  convenient  for  reck- 
less ones  who  drop  matches  about  broadcast. 
(The  cellar  of  a  good  housekeeper  is  kept  in 
order :  sloveliness  is  not  tolerated  there  any  sooner 
than  in  the  other  parts  of  the  house.)  Without 
these  precautions  every  whiff  of  air  and  every 
person  passing  to  and  fro  will  waft  bits  of  ex- 
celsior upstairs  and  downstairs  and  in  the  lady's 
chamber,  to  lodge  in  corners,  on  furniture,  and  in 
every  conceivable  place  as  sempiternal  tokens  of 
the  unpacking.  Many  successive  sweepings  will 
be  required  to  make  the  house  tidy,  whereas  an 
orderly  method  of  unpacking  will  effectually  keep 
the  packing  stuff  within  bounds. 

From  start  to  finish,  in  house-settling  as  well 
'  as  ever  afterwards,  a  dustpan  and  whisk  broom 
should  be  kept  on  every  floor  ready  for  use.  The 
house  where  the  pan  and  brush  are  promptly  used 
for  keeping  clean  will  not  need  to  be  swept  all 
over  half  so  often  as  one  where  everything  is  left 
for  "  sweeping  day."  A  good  old  housekeeper 
used  to  say:  "  I'd  rather  have  one  keep  clean  than 
ever  so  many  cleanings."  That  is  the  secret. 


58  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

Never  allow  things  to  be  topsy-turvy  while  you 
are  settling  or  at  any  time  afterwards.  This  ad- 
vice belongs  under  the  head  of  general  housekeep- 
ing as  much  as  it  does  to  the  period  of  settling. 

During  settling  all  pretty,  decorative  things 
should  be  left  in  their  wrappings  and  in  closets 
until  they  can  be  put  out  with  safety.  Bureau- 
covers,  pincushions,  splashers,  sofa  pillows,  and 
other  dainty  articles  should  not  be  exposed  until 
the  finishing  touches  are  being  given  everywhere 
in  the  house. 

In  hiring  cleaners  it  is  well  to  realize  that  it 
costs  no  more  to  have  a  strong  force  for  a  few 
days  than  it  does  to  employ  fewer  and  perhaps 
be  short  of  service  at  critical  times  and  very  much 
longer  getting  in  order.  A  competent  super- 
intendent can  keep  several  women  busy.  It  is 
really  less  expensive  to  employ  enough  to  push 
the  cleaning  and  settling  rapidly  than  it  is  to  drag 
along  for  some  time  with  only  one  or  two.  Be- 
sider  his,  whenever  there  is  lifting  or  moving  of 
furniture  to  be  done,  there  need  be  no  delay  about 
it  waiting  for  men  to  be  called  in  who  must  be 
paid  for  fifteen  minutes'  time,  or  even  less,  quite 
out  of  proportion  to  a  whole  day's  work.  Every- 
one knows  that  short  jobs  are  costly  and  run  up 
a  formidable  series  of  items  in  the  accounts. 


CLEANING  AND  SETTLING       59 

Since  the  whole  household,  irrespective  of  age, 
sex,  or  class,  depends  upon  the  kitchen,  it  would 
seem  superfluous  to  emphasize  the  necessity  of 
providing  it  in  season  with  all  things  requisite  for 
preparing  meals  that  whoever  may  have  the  cook- 
ing to  do  may  be  able  to  do  it,  unhampered  by 
lack  of  utensils  unpacked,  clean  and  ready  to  her 
hand.  Then,  too,  with  a  nice,  orderly  kitchen,  if 
the  dining  room  be  not  ready  immediately  to 
serve  a  meal,  anyone  can  go  there  for  a 
little  lunch  or  a  cup  of  tea.  The  mistress  of  the 
house  herself,  when  in  the  midst  of  all  the  work 
and  fatigued  with  her  crowding  cares,  would 
often  prefer  to  take  some  refreshment  almost 
anywhere  in  her  own  house  to  going  out. 

A  nice  clean  kitchen,  with  a  tidy  cook  serving 
everything  piping  hot,  is  far  preferable  to  the 
average  restaurant  with  strange  people  eating  all 
about  one  and  everything  served  lukewarm  on 
cold  dishes  in  a  stifling  atmosphere.  In  fact  the 
only  hot  thing  one  gets  in  an  average  restaurant 
is  the  air  that  all  are  compelled  to  breathe. 

Supplies  of  milk,  butter,  eggs,  and  fruit,  as  well 
as  groceries,  ought  to  be  provided  early.  In  order 
to  remember  everything  it  is  a  good  plan  to  take 
the  grocer's  catalogued  list ;  with  that  before  you 
there  will  be  little  danger  of  overlooking  or  for- 


60  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

getting  what  you  are  in  the  habit  of  using  on  your 
table,  but,  in  the  beginning,  avoid  all  foods  that 
take  much  time  in  their  preparation,  for  you  want 
all  the  help  you  can  have  to  get  settled  and  in 
order. 


CHAPTER  FOUR 


FURNISHING  THE  HOME 


Avoid    overfurnishing.       The    household    toolbox.       "  Go   slow, 

little  boy."     Drawing  room  of  least  importance.      Good  beds. 

No  weighty  bedclothes.      Screens.      Writing  desks. 


LMOST  as  much  depends  upon 
the  good  taste  and  judgment 
exercised  as  upon  the  amount 
of  money  expended,  in  furnish- 
ing a  house. 

Usefulness  and  beauty 
should  go  hand  in  hand,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble, in  making  selections.  But  the  useful 
should  always  lead  the  way.  One  thing 
to  be  studiously  avoided  is  overfurnishing.  No 
matter  how  ample  the  purse,  the  ruling  idea 
should  be  to  furnish  with  the  fewest  articles  that 
are  not  absolutely  of  some  use,  and  to  shun 
crowding  things,  things  to  occupy  space  without 
making  adequate  return  for  so  doing.  A  room 
encumbered  with  furniture  and  ornaments  is  in- 
elegant —  far  from  pleasing  and  a  weariness  to 

6! 


62  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

the  eye  that  enjoys  refined  furnishing,  which  can 
only  be  reached  by  the  observance  of  the  eternal 
fitness  of  things.  First,  then,  make  usefulness  the 
paramount  point,  and  always  as  much  beauty  as  is 
consistent  with  use.  Last  of  all  the  ornamental, 
which,  if  wisely  chosen,  may  be  also  useful  in  its 
own  way  because  serving  a  purpose,  since  what- 
ever brightens  life  or  cheers  the  work-a-day 
toilers  is  useful. 

Amongst  immediately  necessary  and  strictly 
useful  purchases  is  a  box  of  household  tools. 
The  woman  who  can  handle  a  hammer,  a  screw- 
driver, and  a  gimlet  expertly  wrill  often  be  inde- 
pendent of  a  skilled  carpenter  or  an  upholsterer 
when  another  person  likewise  situated,  but  unac- 
customed to  those  tools,  would  be  helpless — com- 
pelled to  wait  and  wait  the  pleasure  and  the 
leisure  of  a  mechanic  for  trifling  jobs  to  be  done 
and  then  pay  and  pay,  in  inverse  ratio  to  the  char- 
acter of  the  work  tardily  accomplished,  as  well  as 
the  time  taken  to  do  it.  Hiring  small  jobs  done 
at  odd  times  makes  surprising  inroads  upon  a 
family  purse.  If  one  is  entirely  dependent  upon 
mechanics  for  everything  done  requiring  their 
tools,  the  best  way  to  keep  the  cost  down  to  rea- 
sonable figures  is  to  make  a  full  list  of  what  you 
expect  done  and  give  it  to  the  man  or  his  boss 


FURNISHING  THE  HOME         63 

in  advance  of  the  day  that  he  is  to  come.  Then 
he  can  come  prepared  with  all  that  the  work  may 
require  in  the  way  of  tools  and  other  necessary 
et  cetera.  Everybody  knows  the  facility  with 
which  mechanics  lengthen  a  bill  if  they  have  to 
go  after  anything  that  is  not  ready  to  their  hands. 
They  never  rupture  any  blood  vessels  by  undue 
haste  when  upon  those  errands. 

The  household  tool  box  should  be  accom- 
panied by  the  stepladders,  a  few  kitchen  chairs 
and  other  things,  already  mentioned  in  a  former 
chapter,  for  the  use  of  the  cleansers.  The  fur- 
niture can  be  selected  as  early  as  you  choose,  but 
with  the  understanding  that  the  dealers  hold  it 
subject  to  your  orders.  The  cleaner  the  house 
is  before  any  furniture  is  permitted  to  arrive,  the 
better  for  the  furniture  and  the  housewife's  peace 
of  mind.  As  circumstances  alter  cases  and  re- 
quirements, so,  if  anyone  is  to  live  in  the  house 
before  it  is  ready,  then  a  room  must  be  thor- 
oughly cleaned  immediately  and  made  comfort- 
able for  the  expected  occupant.  If  it  can  be  one 
of  the  top-floor  rooms  so  much  the  better  for  the 
order  of  the  work  as  well  as  for  the  room  itself. 
However,  it  should  be  locked  all  the  time  to  keep 
it  nice,  for  it  is  very  difficult  to  prevent  some 
misappropriation  through  the  ignorance  or  care- 


64  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

lessness  of  irresponsible  persons  when  there  is  a 
great  deal  going  on.  As  the  superintendent  can- 
not be  ubiquitous  the  only  safeguard  against  a 
possible  invasion  of  a  place  already  cleaned  and 
furnished  is  the  lock  and  key.  In  familiar 
words:  "  Safe  leave,  safe  find."  But  in  selecting 
a  room  to  be  thus  made  ready  be  wise  and  beware 
that  you  do  not  choose  one  that  any  mechanic  has 
yet  to  enter  for  work  of  any  sort,  else  all  your 
cleaning  and  putting  in  order  will  be  made  null 
and  void.  None  but  those  who  have  learned 
their  ways  through  trying  experiences  can  do  jus- 
tice to  this  special  setback  in  house-settling.  I 
once  found  that  the  mechanics  at  work  in  a  house 
— that  had,  supposedly,  been  prepared  and 
shielded  against  their  expected  presence  and  van- 
dalism— had  chosen  the  handsomest  bedchamber 
for  their  lunching  place.  Without  plates  or 
napkins  they  sat  upon  a  costly  axminster 
carpet  to  eat  and  to  drink.  Doubtless  they  found 
the  heavy  velvet  pile  entirely  comfortable.  This 
is  just  one  little  experience  of  that  sort  amongst 
countless  others  of  a  similar  nature  closely  re- 
lated to  the  subject  now  under  our  consideration. 
"  Go  slow,  little  boy,"  is  a  good  motto  for  those 
who  are  furnishing  a  home  and  want  to  do  the 
very  best  with  a  fixed  sum  of  money. 


FURNISHING  THE  HOME         65 

Bear  in  mind  that  after  you  find  and  decide 
upon  what  you  will  get,  buying  is  comparatively 
easy.  The  distinction  between  shopping — going 
from  shop  to  shop,  looking  for  what  you  want — 
and  ordering  after  you  have  found  the  right 
thing,  is  immense.  The  one  is  tedious  and  weari- 
some in  the  extreme,  the  other  quite  the  opposite. 
You  will  always  find  people  ready  to  hasten  your 
spending,  but  there  are  few  who  are  capable  of 
advising  or  assisting  one  to  a  wise  selection 
amongst  many  desirable  articles.  There  is  noth- 
ing like  a  carefully  prepared  notebook,  with  lists 
and  prices  of  articles  to  be  purchased  set  down  in 
black  and  white  for  constant  reference.  It  will 
prove  a  safeguard  against  sudden  and  regrettable 
decisions  that  cannot  be  revoked,  or,  if  revoked, 
that  cost  loss  of  valuable  time,  and  money  too, 
sometimes. 

When  the  mind  is  very  full  of  crowding 
thoughts  the  memory  is  apt  to  become  less  trust- 
worthy, therefore,  as  you  go  about,  keep  careful 
memoranda — on  blank  pages  left  for  that  purpose 
between  your  lists — of  whatever  you  are  likely  to 
buy  and  of  all  that  you  do  decide  upon.  Inde- 
pendent pages  should  be  devoted  to  each  room 
and  to  every  quarter  of  your  house  exclusive  of 
every  other  portion — conspicuous  en  every  page 


66  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

the  amount  to  be  laid  out  for  the  things  there 
listed. 

If  you  want  to  enjoy  and  be  restfully  happy 
in  the  new  home  hold  expenses  within  bounds,  no 
matter  what  tempting  things  may  entice  you  to 
go  beyond  your  means,  or  how  obliging  the  shop- 
keepers may  show  themselves  ready  to  be  about 
"  giving  credit."  Remember  that  if  you  buy  in 
haste  you  will  have  to  repent  at  your  leisure. 
Get  only  the  indispensables  at  first,  then  you  will 
have  strength,  time,  and  cash  for  getting  extras 
later  and  by  degrees,  as  you  deem  them  requisite 
for  the  comfort  and  pleasure  of  the  household. 

Even  if  the  purse  permits,  it  is  wiser  not  to  buy 
lavishly  at  the  beginning.  If  all  but  necessaries 
are  left  until  you  are  living  in  the  house  your 
furnishing  will  be  characterized  by  greater  indi- 
viduality, and  you  will  be  led  to  choose  and  get 
what  will  be  suitable  to  your  house  and  your 
needs  and  therefore  satisfy  longer. 

Houses  thus  furnished  are  the  most  attractive 
because  they  express  something  above  and  beyond 
the  cabinet-makers'  work.  It  is  the  same  differ- 
ence that  exists  between  a  library  where  all  the 
books  have  been  bought  at  once,  according  to  the 
bookseller's  catalogue,  and  the  library  that  has 
been  slowly  accumulated  by  a  lover  of  books. 


FURNISHING  THE  HOME         67 

There  is  a  psychic  quality  and  charm  inexpres- 
sible, but  felt,  in  the  house  that  has  been  slowly 
furnished,  and  the  library  of  the  student  and 
book-lover  is  entirely  foreign  to  the  others. 

The  drawing  room  or  parlor  is  least  of  all  in 
importance  and  can  easily  be  furnished  at  any 
later  date.  If  left  until  last  of  all  it  gives  a 
good-sized  room,  convenient  to  the  front  door, 
for  receiving  boxes  and  things  that  have  to  be 
unpacked,  and  spares  other  portions  of  the  house 
— that  have  been  cleaned — from  the  risk  of  being 
upset.  It  will  prove  also  a  fine  storing  place  for 
anything  arriving  before  its  appointed  time — if 
its  place  be  not  ready  to  receive  it. 

Since  good  sleep  and  good  food  are  all-impor- 
tant to  the  physical  being  and  most  of  us  are 
very  dependent  upon  these  for  health  and  amia- 
bility, the  need  cannot  be  ignored  with  impunity. 
Therefore  everything  pertaining  to  the  sleeping 
arrangements — bedsteads,  mattresses,  pillows, 
blankets,  and  quilts,  and  the  bed  linen — come 
under  the  head  of  early  and  very  necessary  fur- 
nishings. 

The  kitchen  appointments  are  equally  im- 
portant. We  all  realize  how  very  much  the 
peace  and  comfort  of  a  family  depend  upon  com- 
fortably served,  well-prepared  meals.  These  may 


68  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

be  assured  along  with  simplicity  and  moderate  ex- 
pense, but  the  housekeeping  allowance  must  be 
in  proportion  to  the  demands  of  the  family  and 
the  housewife  capable,  and  unhampered  in  her 
management. 

In  selecting  bedsteads,  mattresses,  and  pillows, 
those  best  in  quality  are  the  most  economical  in 
the  end  and  always  the  most  comfortable. 
Blankets  and  quilts  should  be  chosen  for  light- 
ness and  warmth.  Heavy  bedclothes  are  ex- 
hausting and  partially  undo  the  benefit  to  be 
gained  by  sleep;  they  are  also  objectionable  be- 
cause they  are  not  so  warm  as  anything  in  wool 
of  lighter  weight. 

In  these  days  of  ever  improving  household 
hygiene  single  beds  are  becoming  the  rule  for  old 
and  young  alike.  This  wholesome  practice  com- 
mends itself,  on  every  account,  to  all  thoughtful 
people.  Where  two  are  obliged  to  occupy  one 
bedchamber  each  one  will  be  much  more  com- 
fortable, and  less  likely  to  disturb  the  other,  when 
they  sleep  in  separate  beds.  Above  all  young 
people  and  infants  should  never  sleep  with  older 
persons  or  those  who  are  strong  and  well  with 
sickly  or  ailing  ones.  The  loss  of  vitality  to  the 
young  or  well  ones  is  altogether  too  serious  to 
be  ignored.  Carelessness  in  these  matters  propa- 


FURNISHING  THE  HOME         69 

gates  disease  and  is  therefore  unpardonable  ex- 
cept in  those  who  sin  through  ignorance. 

Single  beds  or  spring  cots  are  in  every  way 
more  desirable  than  double  bedsteads,  however 
handsome  they  may  be.  If  the  double  bedstead 
effect  be  preferred  it  can  be  had  with  two  single 
beds.  They  come  made  with  their  head  and 
foot  boards  shaped  to  simulate  one  bedstead  when 
they  are  placed  side  by  side. 

Every  double  room  should  be  provided  with  a 
couple  of  portable  screens  for  the  convenience 
and  partial  privacy  of  both  occupants.  Screens 
are  advantageous  in  very  many  ways,  but  during 
illness  or  even  a  slight  indisposition  they  are 
indispensable.  Through  a  skillful  adjustment 
of  screens  the  ailing  one  can  be  protected  from 
a  trying  glare  of  light,  from  draughts,  and 
can  also  have  a  sense  of  privacy  impossible  with- 
out them.  At  the  same  time  persons  who 
may  be  compelled  to  occupy  that  room  need 
not  be  subjected  to  the  annoyance  of  sitting 
in  a  darkened,  insufficiently  aired  room  for  the 
sick  one's  sake.  Of  course  everything  that  can 
be  done  to  ameliorate  an  invalid's  condition 
should  be  done,  but,  at  the  same  time,  healthy 
people  are  entitled  to  an  opportunity  to  preserve 
their  vigor,  and  that  is  impossible  in  a  dark  room 


70  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

or  a  close  atmosphere.  It  is  well  also  to  remem- 
ber that  darkness  and  poor  ventilation  retard, 
even  prevent,  recovery  of  health.  All  the  weight 
of  argument  is  in  favor  of  screens  and  not  one 
in  opposition  is  worthy  of  attention.  Even 
those  who  feel  the  necessity  for  close  economy, 
by  exercising  a  little  ingenuity,  can  have  home- 
made screens.  A  clothes-horse  can  be  covered 
with  cheap  washable  goods — cretonne,  silkaline, 
denim,  or  cheese-cloth  answer  as  coverings,  and 
are  easily  put  on  and  off. 

These  are  days  of  incessant  traveling,  packing, 
and  unpacking.  An  inexpensive  article  that 
subtracts  largely  from  the  fatigue  of  packing  is 
a  strong  low  stand  upon  which  the  trunk  or  box 
to  be  packed  is  placed.  This  enables  the  packer 
to  stand  erect  while  doing  the  work.  The  stand 
may  be  as  ornamental,  as  a  hall  wrood-box,  if 
economy  of  space  be  a  necessity.  Then  it  will 
serve  other  purposes  when  not  needed  for  pack- 
ing. It  can  be  made  of  hardwood  polished — and 
have  the  top  protected  with  strong  paper  when  it 
is  to  support  a  trunk — or  it  may  be  of  stained  or 
painted  wood  and  made  in  the  house  at  a  very 
small  cost.  It  should  be  just  high  enough  to 
bring  the  trunk,  when  placed  upon  it,  to  a  line 
preventing  any  necessity  for  the  packer's  stoop- 


FURNISHING  THE  HOME         7* 

ing.  A  cast-iron  back,  with  a  hinge  in  it,  is  as 
necessary  to  one  who  packs  a  trunk  that  stands 
upon  the  floor  as  it  seemed  to  the  author  of  "  My 
Summer  in  a  Garden  "  during  his  planting  and 
weeding  experiences.  The  trunk-stand,  like 
many  other  inexpensive  conveniences,  recommends 
itself  because  it  affords  immunity  from  great  fa- 
tigue to  all  who  use  it.  As  a  rule  costly  articles 
do  not  contribute  to  the  comfort  of  a  family,  on 
the  contrary  they  are  often  burdensome,  work- 
making,  and  useless.  Simple,  labor-saving  things 
affording  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  num- 
ber should  be  sought  after  and  secured  in  one's 
general  house  furnishing.  When  selecting  any 
furniture  the  first  considerations  should  be  dura- 
bility, combined  with  lightness  and  the  absence  of 
dust-harbors.  A  housewife  who  cannot  command 
the  services  of  a  retinue  of  strong  servants  should 
never  be  tempted  to  buy  any  stuffed  or  carved 
furniture.  Carved  furniture  is  difficult  to  dust 
and  takes  an  unusual  amount  of  time,  if  kept 
clean.  Unless  stuffed  furniture  is  often  lifted 
into  the  open  air  and  there  well  beaten  it  is  im- 
possible to  prevent  it  from  accumulating  dust, 
and  that  little  bete  noir  of  every  careful  house- 
keeper, the  moth,  is  hard  to  banish  if  once  it  gets 
into  stuffed  furniture.  There  is  little  rest  or 


72  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

peace  for  one  who  must  perpetually  contend  with 
dust  and  moth  when  once  either  or  both  get 
established  in  furniture.  But  with  furniture  of 
polished  hardwood  simply  constructed  there  need 
be  no  anxiety  and  the  work  of  dusting  is  minim- 
ized while  it  can  be  thoroughly  done.  If  pre- 
ferred, or  desired  for  variety,  beautiful  wicker 
furniture  can  be  kept  perfectly  clean  because  it 
can  be  washed.  Pillows  and  separate  sofa 
cushions  are  easily  aired  and  beaten  outside  with- 
out undue  labor,  and  therefore  better  for  the  gen- 
eral health  of  a  household  than  any  undetachable 
appointments.  Couches  and  sofas  that  any  tyro 
can  put  together  nicely  and  take  apart  easily  are 
sensible,  comfortable,  and  cleanly. 

For  all  ordinary  purposes  a  low  spring  cot  can 
be  converted  into  an  inviting  lounge.  It  only 
requires  a  mattress  firmly  tied  on  with  strong 
tapes,  sewed  at  the  corners  and  also  all  around  at 
intervals — tapes  enough  to  insure  its  immova- 
bility. There  should  also  be  a  valance  of  the 
same  material  as  the  cover,  likewise  tied  on. 
The  mattress  should  be  a  little  larger  than  the 
cot,  then,  when  it  is  covered,  it  will  hide  all  the 
metal  of  the  cot.  Everything  should  be  made 
absolutely  secure;  the  mattress  itself  so  firmly 
tied  there  can  be  no  possibility  of  an  untidy  ap- 


FURNISHING  THE  HOME         73 

pearance  after  anyone  has  been  sitting  or  lying 
down  upon  it. 

The  valance  can  be  fastened  to  the  mattress 
with  large  hooks  and  eyes.  Whichever  plan  is 
preferred  the  valance  should  be  cut  deep  enough 
to  admit  of  its  passing  well  in  under  the  mattress 
to  hide  every  sign  of  its  fastenings.  A  couch  of 
this  sort,  pushed  into  a  corner,  and  piled  with 
cushions  along  the  back  and  at  the  head,  is  com- 
fortable and  inexpensive.  That  it  is  home- 
made is  no  reason  why  it  should  be  either  ugly 
or  untidy-looking.  On  the  contrary,  there  is  an 
opportunity  for  indulging  one's  taste  and  indi- 
viduality as  well  as  exercising  inventive  genius. 
A  capable  family  of  ideas  can  improve  upon  these 
suggestions.  The  people  who  dare  to  experiment 
upon  bright,  new  ideas,  are  our  inventors,  our 
artists,  and  our  geniuses.  Their  houses  are  full 
of  home-made  interesting  things. 

Every  bedchamber  large  enough  to  hold  both 
should  have  a  couch  as  well  as  a  bed.  A  couch 
tends  to  preserve  the  order  of  a  bedroom  in  the 
daytime  when  a  siesta  is  taken.  The  advantage 
of  having  a  couch  for  that  purpose  is  obvious  be- 
cause it  leaves  the  bed  undisturbed.  Those  who 
take  pride  in  having  their  rooms  ahvays  orderly 
know  that  a  bed  slightly  out  of  order  mars  the 


74  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

entire  appearance  of  any  room,  however  faultless 
it  may  be  in  every  other  respect.  Lying  down 
upon  the  outside  of  a  bed  soon  soils  the  coverlet. 
But  if  one  is  obliged  to  use  a  bed  for  a  short 
rest,  the  coverlet  can  be  protected  by  having  al- 
ways at  hand  a  light  spread  of  some  sort,  or  even 
a  sheet,  to  lay  over  the  spread  during  a  daytime 
sleep.  It  can  be  kept  folded  under  the  pillow 
when  not  in  use.  Another  advantage  about  this 
is  that  it  prevents  increased  laundry  work,  where 
many  white  bedspreads  add  to  the  heaviest  por- 
tion of  that  work. 

Unless  a  house  is  to  be  supplied  with  two  sets 
of  window-shades,  light-colored  ones  for  winter 
and  dark  for  summer  use,  it  is  wiser  for  all-the- 
year-round  service  to  have  them  of  dark  green 
holland,  because  they  protect  the  interior  from 
the  sun  in  hot  weather  and  make  an  agreeable 
shade.  In  cool  weather,  when  a  house  requires 
all  the  sunlight  possible,  the  green  shades  can  be 
rolled  up  to  the  top  all  day,  as  ordinary  sash 
curtains  and  window  hangings  afford  sufficient 
privacy  during  sunlit  hours,  and  after  the 
house  is  lighted  in  the  evening  the  dark  shades 
will  answer  all  purposes  of  shielding  those  inside 
from  outside  gazers. 

Sash  curtains  of  some  washable  goods  requir- 


FURNISHING  THE  HOME          75 

ing  no  starch  wear  longer  and  are  prettier  than 
anything  that  must  be  stiffened  and  therefore 
would  need  frequent  laundering  of  the  most 
troublesome  kind.  Plain  white  scrim,  hemmed, 
makes  durable  and  pretty  sash  curtains.  Fine 
cream-white  cheese-cloth  is  cheaper,  very  dainty- 
looking,  and  also  wears  well.  After  serving  a 
reasonable  time  as  curtains  it  can  be  turned  into 
dusters,  straining  cloths,  and  window  polishers. 
Window  hangings  that  exclude  the  light  in  cool 
weather  are  objectionable.  Better  have  none  at 
all  than  those  that  make  gloomy  rooms.  Heavy 
stuff  window  hangings  are  neither  artistic,  health- 
ful, nor  pleasant.  They  gather  dust  and,  if  of 
wool,  harbor  the  earliest  moths.  Spotless  win- 
dow hangings  of  some  sheer  and  inexpensive 
material  are  more  satisfactory  to  a  dainty  but 
busy  housewife.  They  add  to  the  attractiveness 
of  a  room  and  screen  the  interior  sufficiently, 
while  admitting  light  and  air.  The  way  in  which 
windows  are  dressed  always  manifests  the  good 
sense  and  the  good  taste  of  the  one  responsible 
for  their  hangings. 

In  all  house-furnishing  a  lover  of  absolute 
neatness  never  selects  anything  "  because  it  will 
not  show  dirt."  On  the  contrary,  the  preference 
will  always  be  given  to  things  that  do  show  when 


76  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

they  need  cleaning.  Then  it  will  not  be  over- 
looked, nor  will  anything  be  allowed  to  get  very 
dirty.  Assuredly  this  makes  a  nice  use  of  things 
imperative,  but  that  should  be  a  part  of  every- 
body's education;  when  not  learned  early  in  life, 
it  is  yet  never  too  late  to  mend  uncleanly  or 
careless  ways.  Carpets,  rugs,  and  all  floor  cov- 
erings that  show  every  little  speck  are  the  most 
sanitary  of  all,  if  for  no  other  reason  they  should 
be  chosen  because  the  cleaner  the  house  the  more 
wholesome  it  will  be,  and  nothing  can  excuse  the 
fact  of  hidden  dirt,  which  always  in  time  invites 
or  breeds  disease.  It  costs  a  little  more  vigilance 
and  faithful  daily  cleaning  to  keep  a  house  thus 
furnished  looking  clean,  but  it  costs  less  in  the 
long  run  than  where  dirt  becomes  established  be- 
cause invisible.  Visible  or  invisible,  it  is  dirt  all 
the  same.  Seen  or  unseen,  it  is  the  indirect  cause 
of  visible  doctor's  and  drug  bills  that  nobody  en- 
joys seeing  or  paying.  Immaculate  neatness  is 
the  truest  economy  and  preserves  the  household 
goods  for  a  longer  time.  It  is  not  use  and  clean- 
ing (as  some  would  have  us  believe)  that  wear 
things  out,  but  abuse,  and  soil  ingrained,  make 
them  useless,  worthless,  and  offensive. 

Everyone,    old    and    young,    who    can    write 
should  possess  a  desk.     They  are  so  useful  and  so 


FURNISHING  THE  HOME         77 

inexpensive  that  there  is  no  excuse  for  not  pro- 
viding each  room  with  one.  Desks  promote 
orderly  habits,  for  where  each  member  of  a  house- 
hold has  one  under  lock  and  key,  the  probability 
is  that  individual  belongings  in  the  writing  line 
will  be  kept  in  better  order  than  they  could  be 
without  the  desk  conveniences.  Those  who  are 
not  accustomed  to  the  boundaries  of  a  desk  are 
apt  to  acquire  careless  ways,  just  for  lack  of  a 
suitable  place  for  their  stationery  and  general 
correspondence.  The  school  boy  and  girl  early 
accustomed  to  a  private  desk,  with  a  trash  basket 
under  or  beside  it,  will  hardly  need  to  be  told  to 
use  both,  the  advantage  to  themselves  will  be  so 
obvious.  Besides  the  desk  every  room  should 
have  some  arrangement  for  holding  books — a 
small  bookcase,  a  revolving  stand,  or  a  hanging 
set  of  shelves.  Wherever  it  is  possible  the  books 
should  be  inclosed  or  have  curtains  sliding  on 
rods  to  protect  them.  Dusty  books  are  vexatious 
and  soon  grow  shabby.  A  little  inexpensive  orna- 
mental feather  duster  always  hanging  beside  the 
shelves  is  the  most  desirable  and  only  suitable 
thing  for  removing  dust  from  books,  because  it 
will  not  deface  them.  Feather  dusters,  as  a  rule, 
are  objectionable  anywhere  about  a  house  because 
so  few  people  seem  to  know  how  and  when  they 


78  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

should  be  used.  For  general  dusting  they  are 
worse  than  useless,  like  many  serviceable  articles 
they  may  be  made  nuisances  by  misuse,  but  every 
house  needs  one  very  large  feather  duster  with  a 
long  handle  for  cornices  and  pictures  hanging  too 
high  to  be  reached  with  a  cloth.  And  this  duster 
needs  washing  regularly  and  drying  in  the  open 
air,  if  it  is  to  serve  its  purpose  and  not  become  a 
dust  disseminator. 

Individual  taste  and  notions  will,  of  neces- 
sity, rule  all  house-furnishing.  The  only  thing 
one  can  do  for  others  is  to  touch  upon  general  and 
salient  points  and  make  suggestions,  with  the  hope 
of  reaching  and  helping  any  who  are  on  the  look- 
out for  hints  upon  the  subject. 


tJ  CHAPTER  FIVE  U 


BEDCHAMBERS 


Privacy  for  all  desirables     Individual  furniture  for  double  rooms. 

Importance  of  screens.      Simple  furniture  easily  kept   clean. 

Objectionable    articles.       No   dark    halls.      Plants. 


LTHOUGH  not  always  possible, 
it  is  very  desirable  that  everyone 
should  have  a  separate  room 
>with  absolute  privacy  at  times 
when  it  is  wished  for.  People 
are  better  for  being  alone  with  their  own 
thoughts  sometimes  and  thus  enabled  to  shake 
off  the  hypnotic  effect  of  the  suggestion,  conscious 
or  unconscious,  of  others  to  which  all  of  us 
are  exposed  through  association.  Only  by  get- 
ting away  from  people — however  dear  they 
may  be — can  one  recover  lost  equilibrium  and 
reassert  one's  own  individuality.  Therefore 
provision  should  always  be  made  whereby  those 
who  are  compelled  to  room  together  may  secure 
at  least  some  degree  of  privacy  every  day.  Very 
young  people  are  gregarious  in  their  taste  and  do 
79 


8o  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

not  as  a  rule  mind  rooming  together,  but  all,  as 
they  grow  older,  realize  the  comfort  and  the  ad- 
vantage of  some  assured  privacy.  Young  per- 
sons ought  not  to  be  compelled  to  room  with  their 
elders,  because  the  tastes  and  inclinations  of  older 
people  are  so  different  from  those  of  their  juniors 
that  the  younger  ones  disturb  their  elders  and  the 
elder  are  uncongenial  to  the  younger;  as  a 
natural  result  they  act  and  react  unfavorably 
upon  each  other. 

A  double  room  should  be  furnished  with  two 
of  everything  in  the  way  of  important  bedroom 
furniture,  each  occupant  having  an  individual 
bed,  dressing  bureau,  wTashstand,  writing  desk  or 
table,  and  screen  of  light  weight  to  be  used 
around  the  washstand,  bed,  or  desk,  as  the  owner 
may  choose.  In  a  room  thus  furnished  two  rea- 
sonable people  can  get  along  usually  without  seri- 
ously incommoding  each  other — provided  both 
are  equally  cleanly  and  tidy  about  their  persons 
and  the  room,  and  can  agree  with  regard  to  venti- 
lation by  night  and  by  day.  But  one  who  loves 
order,  bathing,  and  abundant  fresh  air,  should 
never  be  doomed  to  intimate  association  with  an- 
other of  opposite  inclinations.  Each  one  will 
make  life  a  burden  to  the  other. 

A  word  more  upon  the  subject  of  the  writing 


BEDCHAMBERS  81 

desk.  They  are  so  cheap  and  so  very  convenient 
they  are  within  the  reach  of  everyone  who  lives 
in  any  degree  of  comfort.  If  anything  is  to  be 
omitted  or  postponed  during  the  early  furnish- 
ing of  a  house  let  it  be  what  is  less  practical  than 
the  desks.  Well-made  useful  furniture — how- 
ever simple  it  may  be — if  of  the  sort  that  is 
easily  kept  clean,  always  affords  the  greatest 
amount  of  comfort  for  the  price.  With 
single  beds  having  open  and  woven  wire  springs, 
hair  or  felt  mattresses,  and  the  other  articles  of 
furniture  already  mentioned,  also  a  few  rugs  of 
light  weight  placed  where  most  needed  and  a  few 
pleasing  pictures,  not  manyj  hung  upon  the  walls, 
the  bedchamber  will  be  thoroughly  comfortable 
and  not  troublesome  to  keep  clean. 

It  is  a  great  mistake  from  every  view  point  to 
crowd  any  part  of  a  house — but  bedchambers 
especially — with  things  to  gather  and  hold  dust 
the  greater  portion  of  the  time  because  no  one  has 
leisure  to  attend  to  them.  The  practice  is  un- 
wholesome, untidy,  and  unbeautiful.  It  detracts 
from  comfort  and  increases  care  while  at  the 
same  time  it  offends  good  taste.  Even  books,  left 
about,  that  are  not  in  constant  use,  make  extra 
work  and  suffer  for  the  exposure.  The  art  of 
furnishing  is  manifested  when  everything  is 


82  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

selected  and  skillfully  arranged  for  use  and  con- 
venience and  whatever  only  serves  for  the  quiet 
repose  of  dust  is  barred  out  altogether.  Espe- 
cially objectionable  are  things  mounted  over  door- 
tops,  or  above  windows,  unreachable  except  by 
the  aid  of  a  stepladder.  It  requires  a  retinue  of 
servants  to  keep  things  decent  in  a  house 
crammed  with  things.  Fortunately  for  the 
abject  fashion-followers  that  style  is  out  of 
date. 

The  more  elegant  the  mansion,  the  fewer  use- 
less things  are  in  it.  Beautiful  pictures,  bronzes, 
and  exquisite  statuary  serve  a  high  purpose  be- 
cause they  cultivate  the  eye  and  minister  to  our 
aesthetic  sense,  and  are  not  difficult  to  keep  clean 
when  there  is  always  someone  whose  business  it  is 
to  attend  to  them  daily.  Pictures  composed  of 
good  subjects  are  suggestive  of  pure  and  eleva- 
ting thoughts  and  tend  to  promote  re- 
freshing sleep.  But  it  is  a  mistake  to  convert  a 
bedchamber  into  a  promiscuous  picture  gallery, 
or  to  cram  it  with  all  sorts  of  things  until  it  sug- 
gests a  museum  out  of  order,  and  also  gives  one 
a  choking  sense  of  a  load  of  dust  forever  ac- 
cumulating on  the  endless  things  scattered  about 
upon  every  available  space  of  wall,  table,  or  man- 
tel. Those  who  indulge  in  such  bad  taste  need 


BEDCHAMBERS  83 

not  be  surprised  if  they  sometimes  suffer  with 
insomnia  or  have  dreams  of  the  nightmare  type. 

A  light  small  table,  furnished  with  a  little  tray 
to  hold  a  pitcher  of  drinking  water  and  a  glass, 
a  candlestick,  candle  and  matches,  is  not  only 
useful,  but  a  very  desirable  article  of  bedroom 
furniture.  It  should  be  so  light  as  to  be  easily 
moved  to  the  bedside  at  night  and  back  to  the 
wall  in  the  daytime.  This  of  course  is  unneces- 
sary in  a  room  that  has  a  commode  always  stand- 
ing beside  the  bed. 

In  every  bedchamber  that  has  not  ample  closet 
room,  the  doors  should  have  framed  hooks  hung 
up,  and  these  should  always  be  covered  with  a 
curtain  of  cretonne  or  whatever  will  best  har- 
monize with  the  general  furnishings  of  the  room. 
A  shelf  set  up  on  brackets  with  hooks  screwed  in 
on  the  under  side  and  the  whole  inclosed  with  a 
curtain,  helps  to  preserve  order  by  increasing 
conveniences  for  hanging  garments  where  closet 
room  is  lacking.  The  universal  shoe-bag  is  so  fa- 
miliar to  almost  everyone  it  seems  hardly  neces- 
sary to  mention  that  it  belongs  to  the  list  of  useful 
and  necessary  articles  for  the  inside  of  closet  doors. 

Every  housewife  should  keep  on  hand  a 
supply  of  small  brass  hooks  to  be  screwed  up 
whenever  an  extra  place  is  needed  for  hanging 


84  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

up  clothes-brushes,  scrap-holders,  etc.  Tacks,  and 
nails  are  abominable  when  driven  in  walls  or 
wood  work.  They  are  ugly  in  themselves  and 
always  leave  shabby  holes  when  they  are 
removed.  Reckless  picture-hanging  can  be 
averted  by  having  picture-hooks  placed  at  inter- 
vals upon  the  cornice  and  left  ready  for  any  im- 
promptu wall  decorations  by  thoughtless  ones. 

A  brass  chain-bolt  on  bedroom  doors  is  a  great 
comfort  to  timid  souls  who  do  not  like  to  be 
locked  in  and  dare  not  sleep  without  a  fastening 
of  some  sort.  Wherever  women  are  much  alone  in 
their  homes,  especially  in  the  country  where  it  is 
lonely,  the  front  and  rear  entrances  to  the  house 
ought  to  have  chain-bolts.  Tramps  and  doubtful 
strangers  can  then  be  interviewed  without  fear  of 
an  unpleasantness.  In  this  connection  it  may  not 
be  altogether  out  of  place  to  mention  the  window 
fastenings.  In  many  houses  they  are  farcically 
absurd  and  a  waste  of  purchase  money  besides  the 
carpenter's  time  in  mounting  them.  But  win- 
dow fastenings  may  be  had  which  can  only  be 
moved  from  the  inside,  and  that  sort  are  some 
protection. 

In  the  country,  and  wherever  there  is  neither 
electrical  or  gas  light,  the  halls  should  have  some 
sort  of  stationary  ararngement  for  lighting  with 


BEDCHAMBERS  85 

oil,  because  dark  halls  are  unsafe,  besides  being 
exceedingly  uncomfortable.  Sooner  or  later 
there  is  sure  to  be  an  accident  or  serious  trouble 
of  some  sort  where  darkness  reigns.  The  light 
should  be  in  a  hanging  lantern  expressly  for  the 
purpose,  or  else  placed  on  a  bracket,  beyond  the 
possibility  of  being  knocked  over,  and  always 
above  people's  heads.  The  consumption  of  oil 
for  such  lighting  is  very  trifling  compared  with 
the  comfort  and  safety  insured  by  the  practice. 
A  light  in  a  bedroom  all  night  is  very  objection- 
able, while  one  outside  is  most  desirable.  It  is 
said  that  thieves  and  burglars  are  easily  fright- 
ened off  when  they  see  a  light  in  a  house  they 
have  planned  to  enter.  This  is  another  po- 
tent reason  for  keeping  halls  lit  at  night. 

Every  house,  however  simple,  can  be  made  at- 
tractive by  the  tasteful  adjustment  of  a  few 
plants  here  and  there.  Plants  cost  very  little 
and  repay  one  for  all  the  care  that  is  wisely  be- 
stowed upon  them.  Every  dining  room  should 
have  a  few  green  things  growing  there  in  the 
winter  and  a  little  jardiniere  full  of  thriving 
ferns  always  ready  for  a  centerpiece  on  the  din- 
ing table.  They  can  be  had  with  trifling  expense 
and  very  little  trouble.  A  drink  of  water  daily 
and  an  occasional  full  bath  in  a  sink  with  a  water- 


86  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

ing-pot's  sprinkler,  or  a  vaporizer  used  where  the 
plants  are,  keeps  them  washed  clean  and  is  all 
the  care  they  need  after  being  potted  in  good  rich 
earth  for  the  winter.  Of  course,  like  human 
beings,  plants  must  have  pure,  fresh  air  to 
breathe  or  they  too  will  become  sickly  and  lose 
all  their  brightness.  If  in  every  modestly  fur- 
nished house  there  could  be  plants  in  place  of 
cheap  bric-a-brac,  untidy  tidies,  and  mantels 
full  of  useless  cheap  trash,  great  would  be  the  im- 
provement in  the  homes  and  in  the  mental  condi- 
tion of  their  inmates.  Plants  speak  an  eloquent 
language,  potent  and  uplifting,  albeit  voiceless. 

Those  who  select  carpets,  rugs,  or  indeed  any- 
thing for  their  homes  because  they  will  not  show 
soil,  make  a  serious  mistake.  Uncleanly  carpets, 
rugs  and  portieres,  invite  disease  by  harboring 
dirt  and  germs — the  forerunners  of  doctor's  and 
drug  bills.  The  house  par  excellence  is  one 
which  can  be  kept  clean  and  orderly  without 
demanding  too  much  toil  from  anyone.  Its 
"  Joy  and  temperance  and  repose  slam  the  door 
on  the  doctor's  nose  " — as  far  as  his  professional 
visits  are  concerned.  A  joyful,  temperate,  re- 
poseful state  is  never  found  where  disorder 
reigns.  Real  temperance  covers  a  very  wide 
range  of  subjects. 


CHAPTER  SIX 


BATH  ROOM  AND  BATH-ROOM 
ETIQUETTE 


Protect  basins.      India  rubber   mats.      Vigilance  required  to  keep 

pipes  free  and  clean.      The  ounce  of  prevention  an  economy. 

Plenty  of  fresh  air.      Printed  rules  in  bath  room. 


•  URING  periods  of  cleaning  and 
settling  it  is  very  essential  to 
guard  bath  rooms  against  abuse 
through  misuse.  Scrub-women 
and  those  who  generally  do 
rough  work  cannot  be  expected 
to  realize  the  very  great  importance  of  keeping 
everything  that  pertains  to  a  bath  room  in 
dainty  condition,  for  they  have  neither  training 
in,  or  time  for,  careful  ways,  and  are  usually 
much  hurried — going  from  place  to  place  about  a 
house  doing  the  hard  wrork  that  falls  to  their  lot. 
Therefore  they  are  not  to  be  blamed  for  any 
damage,  if  no  provision  has  been  made  by 
a  responsible  and  interested  person  for  guard- 
ing a  bath  room  and  everything  in  it 
87 


88  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

from  being  defaced  while  cleaning  is  in 
progress.  Of  course,  where  there  is  a  house- 
maid's closet,  with  hot  and  cold  water  faucets 
and  a  waste  basin  of  ample  dimensions  for 
receiving  pails  of  water  dashed  into  it  in  a  hurry, 
the  bath  room  can  then  be  locked  and  kept  in 
perfect  condition  against  the  coming  of  the  family 
who  are  to  live  in  the  house.  But  then  the  waste 
basin  should  have  something  placed  in  the  bottom 
to  hold  back  all  clogging  stuff,  or  that  pipe  may 
get  choked.  An  ordinary  wire  sieve  set  in  over 
the  opening,  or  an  old  colander,  will  answer  the 
purpose.  They  can  be  lifted  as  often  as  neces- 
sary and  the  dust  and  refuse  collected  therein 
sent  below  to  the  garbage  can.  But,  if  there  be 
no  such  place  convenient  for  the  workers  to  use 
they  will  have  to  go  to  the  bath  room,  for  the 
steps  of  day-by-day  toilers  should  always  be  con- 
sidered and  no  more  imposed  upon  them  than  the 
exigencies  of  the  occasion  demand.  Therefore  if 
the  bath  room  must  be  open  to  them,  every  means 
should  be  employed  to  protect  it  from  injury. 
Before  any  cleaning  begins  the  floor,  if  of  hard 
or  stained  wood,  ought  to  be  covered  with  strong 
paper  fastened  down  to  keep  it  immovable  under 
the  treading  of  feet.  There  is  a  stout  dark 
paper,  which  comes  in  rolls  for  protecting  floors 


BATH-ROOM  ETIQUETTE         89 

during  cleaning  times,  always  used  by  skilled 
floor-polishers,  that  bears  very  hard  usage 
without  tearing.  This  paper  is  the  best  thing 
that  the  writer  knows  of  for  such  occasions. 
The  bath  tub  and  the  basin  can  both  be  protected 
by  placing  in  each,  over  the  waste  exit,  the  india- 
rubber  mats  that  come  for  that  purpose.  Upon 
these  pails  can  stand  without  marring  the  porce- 
lain or  marble.  Waste  water  should  never  be 
thrown  into  a  bath  tub  because  it  makes  ex- 
traordinary cleaning  frequently  necessary  to  pre- 
vent staining  the  tub.  Whatever  place  may  be 
chosen  for  getting  rid  of  the  dirty  water  during 
cleaning  times,  vigilance  will  be  requisite  to  avoid 
choking  the  pipes  and  something  easily  removed 
should  always  be  used  as  a  shield  to  hold  back 
the  matted  stuff  that  commonly  collects  at  those 
times.  This  is  one  of  many  instances  during 
house-cleaning  when  the  proverbial  ounce  of  pre- 
vention spares  someone  pounds,  shillings,  and 
pence  of  expense  for  cure.  An  early  call  upon 
— and  from — the  plumber  for  repairs  is  not  in- 
variably fraught  with  unalloyed  pleasure  to  a 
household,  either  immediately  or  when  the  in- 
evitable bill  is  presented  for  payment.  Far  bet- 
ter, by  a  little  forethought  and  painstaking, 
avert  possible  mischief  than  experience  the  vex- 


90  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

atious  consequences  of  one's  own  omission  to  safe- 
guard exposed  places.  It  is  childish  to  blame 
others  for  damage  occurring  because  of  our  own 
indolence  or  negligence.  Better  is  it  to  accept 
blame  with  responsibility,  and  be  wiser  the  next 
time. 

There  are  various  inexpensive  conveniences 
and  aids  to  tidy  housekeeping  which  make  small 
extra  jobs  that  are  much  easier  attended  to  at 
settling  time  than  later  on  when  everything  is 
in  order. 

One  very  great  convenience  in  a  bath  room 
is  a  towel  bar  at  a  suitable  height,  placed 
against  the  wall  all  around  the  room,  except 
where  it  would  interfere  with  other  stationary 
furniture.  Bars  of  heavy  glass  or  nickel  plate 
are  easiest  kept  clean.  Every  bath  tub  should  be 
provided  with  a  large  sponge-holder  of  wire  or 
metal,  and  a  soap-holder  also,  either  of  metal  or 
india  rubber.  They  all  should  hang,  not  stand, 
on  the  bath  tub's  edge.  Over  the  face-basin,  or 
else  beside  it,  another  soap-holder  should  hang. 
It  is  less  trouble  to  keep  things  looking  nice  in 
a  bath  room  where  nothing  is  allowed  to  stand 
on  the  basin's  edge  or  on  the  bath-tub,  because 
when  left  on  those  places  they  are  apt  to  get 
pushed  about  and  have  no  settled  abiding  place, 


BATH-ROOM  ETIQUETTE         91 

and  it  takes  longer  to  clean  up  with  things  in  the 
way  to  be  lifted  about. 

A  set  of  inclosed  hanging  shelves  can  be  used 
for  many  things  needed  in  a  bath  room;  they 
will,  at  the  same  time,  aid  in  preserving  order. 
In  fact,  that  end  should  be  always  in  view  when 
house-settling  is  going  on.  Ingenious  people  can 
contrive  many  inexpensive  additions  to  a  house 
that  will  cultivate  habits  of  order  in  those  who 
seem  most  disorderly.  Three  or  four  large 
double  clothes-hooks  screwed  upon  the  inside  of 
a  bath  room's  door,  and  left  exclusively  for  the 
use  of  persons  going  in  there  for  a  bath,  are 
amongst  the  requisites  for  that  room.  No  one 
should  be  allowed  to  monopolize  anything  in  a 
bath  room  used  by  several  persons.  It  should 
be  always  free  and  open  to  all,  and  invariably 
left  in  order  by  the  last  bather.  A  bottle  of  in- 
odorous disinfectant  ought  always  to  be  kept  in 
every  bath  room,  but  beyond  the  reach  of  chil- 
dren. At  least  once  a  week  some  of  the  bottle's 
contents  should  be  poured  down  every  waste 
pipe. 

It  is  better  to  have  the  water  closet  separate 
from  the  bath  room,  with  its  own  independent 
entrance.  But  in  that  case,  if  it  have  no 
window  opening  to  outside  fresh  air,  it  will 


92  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

demand  far  more  watchful  care  to  keep  it  pure, 
no  matter  how  perfect  the  plumbing  or  how 
abundant  the  water  flushing  may  be.  Those 
places  always  testify  unequivocally  to  any 
negligence  upon  the  part  of  persons  whose 
duty  it  is  to  see  that  they  receive  undeviating 
care.  When  in  full  sight,  in  a  brightly 
lighted  room,  any  neglect  is  soon  evident. 
It  is  a  good  plan,  when  they  are  in  dark  or 
dimly  lighted  closets,  to  have  an  extra  and 
portable  seat  always  kept  upon  the  one  that  is 
stationary,  to  protect  the  latter.  The  portable 
seat  can  be  taken  to  the  light,  scoured  in  the 
open  air,  and  given  a  sun  bath,  which  is  always 
the  best  of  all  purifiers. 

On  no  account  permit  anyone  to  set  a  heavy 
pail,  or  any  weighty  thing,  in  bath-room  wash 
basins.  They  are  easily  cracked,  next,  they  leak, 
and  replacing  them  is  expensive.  Eternal  vig- 
ilance is  the  price  of  enjoying  nice  modern 
conveniences. 

The  bath  room  is  a  suitable  place  for  keeping 
a  hamper  for  soiled  clothes.  But  damp  towels 
should  be  dried  before  they  are  consigned  to  it, 
and  the  hamper  should  never  reveal  its  contents, 
neither  should  any  soiled  articles  be  left  upon 
the  cover. 


BATH-ROOM  ETIQUETTE         93 

It  would  be  a  good  plan  if  all  bath  rooms,  not 
strictly  private,  could  have  printed  rules  framed 
and  hung  up  in  plain  sight  of  all  bathers,  giving 
a  few  very  simple  admonitions  upon  what  is 
"  good  form  "  in  a  lavatory  of  any  sort.  The 
fact  is  that  in  what  might  be  termed  the  minor 
morals,  a  great  many  people  seem  to  be  deficient 
of  all  training.  Nowhere  is  this  more  glaringly 
evident  than  in  bath  rooms  used  by  several 
people.  While,  as  a  rule,  individuals  carry  their 
own  towels  and  soap  to  a  bath  room,  yet  some- 
times one  may  be  compelled  to  use  a  cake  of  soap 
that  is  there  for  emergencies.  Whoever  does 
make  personal  use  of  it  should  at  least  wipe  it 
dry  before  laying  it  back  in  the  soap-holder,  for 
it  is  very  disagreeable  to  take  hold  of  soap  that 
has  been  left  wet.  This  may,  to  some,  seem 
overfastidious,  but  a  young  woman  lost  a  trip 
to  Europe  just  because  she  was  careless  in 
that  particular.  The  friend  who  was  asked  why 
she  did  not  take  her  as  a  companion  when  she 
wanted  company  on  a  tour  abroad,  answered: 
"  Oh,  I  cannot  take  her,  she  always  leaves  the 
soap  wet." 

A  cursory  glance  at  a  bath  room  reveals  the 
degree  of  refinement  of  those  who  habitually  use 
it.  It  is,  however,  very  unfair  to  judge  without 


94  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

knowing  if  all,  or  only  one  or  two,  are  guilty  of 
leaving  untidy  conditions. 

Once  upon  a  time,  in  a  boarding  house,  a  lady, 
who  was  on  her  way  to  take  a  bath,  armed  with 
a  brush,  sapolio,  and  a  cloth  for  cleaning  the 
tub  before  she  could  use  it,  announced  to  a  friend 
whom  she  met  on  the  way:  "I  have  found  a 
definition  for  a  Christian.  A  Christian  is  one 
who  leaves  a  bath  tub  clean  after  taking  a  bath." 
Only  those  who  have  gone  through  the  same  ex- 
perience can  sympathize  with  that  long-suffering 
one  who  had  learned  to  her  sorrow  to  go  pre- 
pared for  the  work  that  awaited  her.  It  does 
seem  altogether  unjust  that  decent  people  should 
be  obliged  to  do  double  duty  in  a  bath  room 
because  self-respect  will  not  permit  them  to  fol- 
low a  bad  precedent  by  likewise  leaving  the 
tub  without  washing  and  drying  it. 

"  Well,  dear,"  said  an  experienced  old  lady, 
upon  hearing  some  of  these  things  from  a  younger 
relative  who  was  just  beginning  to  go  about  in 
boarding  houses,  "  you  will  find,  as  you  journey 
through  life,  that  many  of  the  people  whom  you 
meet  will  be  half-baked." 

Half-baked  is  a  synonym  for  under-bred  or 
untrained.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  half- 
baked  class  should  remain  doughy.  Those  who 


BATH-ROOM  ETIQUETTE         95 

have  not  had  the  advantage  of  good  examples  and 
training  at  home  can  remedy  the  consequent 
lack  of  propriety,  if  they  desire  to  do  so.  It  is 
only  a  question  of  ambition  to  improve  in  every 
way.  Thoughtlessness,  which  is  selfishness,  and 
indolence,  which  is  correlated  to  the  other  two, 
are  the  only  barriers  to  self-improvement. 

It  is  well  to  remember  that  what  seem  like 
trifles  to  the  sinners  are  not  trifles  to  those  who 
suffer  from  them.  Moreover,  we  have  high 
authority  for  saying  that  trifles  light  as  air  make 
up  the  sum  of  earthly  existence.  No  one  has 
ever  improved  upon  the  Golden  Rule.  Its  prac- 
tice would  make  a  heaven  of  every  home.  Our 
sorely  tried  friend  was  right.  "  A  Christian 
leaves  the  bath  tub  clean  " — obeys  the  Golden 
Rule. 


CHAPTER  SEVEN  U 


CARE  OF  BEDS  AND  BEDSTEADS 


Housekeeping  stamped  by  appearance  of  beds.      Sunning  and  airing. 

The  way  to    secure  an  aired  bed.      To  judge  a  housemaid's 

training.      Another  boarding-house  anecdote. 

u 

EDSTEADS  and  mattresses  re- 
quire vigilant  care  to  keep  them 
clean  and  free  from  dust  or 
vermin,  and  protected  against 
spotting  of  any  sort.  The 
whole  character  of  any  house- 
keeping is  unmistakably  stamped  by  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  bedsteads  and  the  mattresses 
when  they  are  uncovered.  Mattresses  once 
soiled  are  very  difficult  to  clean  without  tak- 
ing them  apart.  They  should  never  be 
left  uncovered  for  any  great  length  of  time, 
and  when  in  use  ought  to  have  slip  covers 
of  strong  muslin  that  can  be  removed  and  washed 
periodically.  When  they  are  moved  about 
their  covers  should  always  be  left  on.  It  is 
hardly  necessary  to  expatiate  upon  the  trifling 
96 


BEDS  AND  BEDSTEADS  97 

work  of  washing  these  covers  as  compared  with 
cleaning  the  mattresses  when  once  they  get  soiled. 
Their  covers  are  also  advantageous  because  they 
protect  them  from  dust,  especially  where  it  is 
difficult  to  remove,  in  and  around  the  tufting. 
When  not  so  protected  mattresses  should  be 
swept  monthly  with  a  whisk  broom,  and  all  of 
the  tufts  thoroughly  brushed  free  from  dust 
wrhich  may  get  around  or  in  them  during  the 
intervals  between  the  regular  cleaning  days. 

Mattresses  may  be  kept  like  new  for  years  if 
they  are  systematically  turned  daily — one  day 
reversed  from  side  to  side,  and  the  next  from 
top  to  bottom.  This  method  helps  to  equalize 
the  pressure  upon  them  of  the  human  body,  and 
prevents  their  becoming  soon  packed  in  spots,  as 
they  do  when  no  attention  is  paid  to  mattress 
turning.  It  lightens  the  labor  of  turning  and  in- 
sures greater  variety  of  pressure,  if  mattresses  for 
double  bedsteads  are  made  in  sections  easy  to 
handle. 

Little  quilted  and  washable  bed  protectors 
come  neatly  made  and  bound.  They  are  inex- 
pensive and  should  be  a  part  of  the  furnishing  of 
all  beds,  but  especially  for  those  of  children  and 
very  old  people.  They  are  easily  made  at  home 
where  there  is  a  sewring  machine,  which,  in  these 


98  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

days,  most  houses  have.  A  careful  housekeeper, 
after  many  years  at  housekeeping  with  the  same 
beds  and  furniture  generally,  will  have  a  nicer 
house  and  everything  in  better  condition  than  an 
inexperienced,  careless  one,  beginning  with  every- 
thing new  and  of  the  best,  will  have  at  the  end 
of  a  very  few  years  of  non-care-taking. 

Twice  a  year,  in  fine  weather,  mattresses 
should  have  a  good  sunning,  in  the  open  air, 
hanging  over  lines;  while  they  are  outside  is  a 
fitting  time  to  have  them  well  thrashed  with  a 
bamboo  rug  whipper.  This  need  not  cause  an 
upsetting  of  all  the  rooms  at  once.  They  can 
be  done,  one  or  two  at  a  time,  gradually  but 
methodically,  in  order  not  to  overlook  any 
one. 

Here  again,  the  housewife's  notebook  will  be 
found  serviceable,  because  she  can  check  off  each 
one  when  it  is  done.  A  family  of  ordinary  size 
may  have  about  eight  or  perhaps  ten  mattresses. 
Taking  two  or  three  a  day,  or  having  them  done 
when  the  room  where  they  belong  is  being 
cleaned,  the  job  will  not  be  at  all  formidable. 
But  a  sun  bath  for  hours  twice  a  year  ought  to 
be  given  to  every  mattress  that  is  in  constant  use. 
One  should  be  given  in  very  cold,  clear,  frosty 
weather.  And  June  is  usually  the  best  month 


BEDS  AND  BEDSTEADS  99 

for  the  other  sun  and  air  bath.  It  is  safe  to 
assert  that  those  who  are  so  fortunate  as  to 
sleep  on  beds  thus  cared  for  will  be  in  less  danger 
of  suffering  from  insomnia,  and  will  enjoy  better 
health,  than  others  who  sleep  on  non-aired  and 
packed  mattresses.  The  reason*  is  apparent,  for 
one  is  wholesome  and  the  other  unwholesome. 
Of  course,  after  a  mattress  has  been  out  in  ex- 
tremely cold  weather  it  should  be  placed  in  a 
warm  room  long  enough  to  take  the  chill  off 
before  anyone  sleeps  on  it,  or  else  it  should  have 
a  hot  iron  passed  over  it  on  both  sides  before  the 
bed  is  made  up  to  be  immediately  occupied. 
Common  sense  should  always  be  used  when  rules 
and  regulations  about  a  house  are  being  made  or 
followed. 

It  is  a  good  plan  to  have  wire  lines  put  up  on 
piazzas  or  on  second-story  roofs,  accessible  from 
windows,  and  then  mattress  airing  is  simplified 
and  the  labor  minimized.  Another  advantage  of 
this  airing  is  that  in  case  of  a  sudden  shower 
they  can  be  taken  in  quickly  and  therefore  escape 
getting  damp.  By  first  spreading  down  a  large 
piece  of  unbleached  muslin  upon  a  sunny  roof, 
the  mattresses  can  lie  out  there  with  safety.  A 
clever  woman  of  ideas  will,  after  one  or  two 
hints,  think  of  ways  and  means  for  airing  and 


TOO  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

doing  the  many  things  that  fall  under  this  head 
of  house  management.  The  great  secret  for  all 
thorough  housekeepers  to  learn  and  faithfully 
practice  is:  "  Let  your  head  save  your  heels  a 
journey."  There  will  be  always  steps  enough 
to  keep  their  blood  in  good  circulation. 

People  living  in  crowded  cities,  with  little  or  no 
yard  space,  and  those  unfortunates  who  dwell  in 
flats,  will,  of  course,  have  to  content  themselves 
with  airing  before  open  windows;  better  that 
than  none  at  all,  but  they  will  require  window 
ventilation  for  their  mattresses  six  times  as  often 
as  the  happy  beings  who  live  where  they  can  have 
a  patch  of  green  grass  all  their  own  and  ample 
airing  space  outside  their  houses.  Pillows,  bol- 
sters, and  everything  filled  with  feathers  or 
down  should  be  treated  much  the  same  as  mat- 
tresses. 

Pillows  and  bolsters  can  be  kept  in  good  con- 
dition by  pinning  them  on  lines  out  in  the  open 
air,  and  letting  them  get  a  thorough  sun  and 
air  bath.  If  they  can  be  spared  long  enough  it 
does  them  good  to  have  a  summer  shower  bath, 
provided  they  can  be  left  outside  afterwards  to 
get  perfectly  dry.  But  this  should  never  be 
done  during  a  damp  season.  The  right  time  is 
when  sunshine  and  showers  alternate,  and  when 


BEDS  AND  BEDSTEADS          101 

the  sunshine  lasts  long  enough  to  dry  whatever 
is  outside.  Pillows  and  bolsters,  as  well  as  mat- 
tresses, should  have  slip  covers.  On  some  ac- 
counts slip  covers  for  pillowrs  are  even  more  nec- 
essary than  any  of  the  others,  as  pillows  are,  in 
many  wTays,  more  exposed  to  soil  and  are  un- 
sightly and  unpleasant  if  not  perfectly  clean. 

Able  bodied  ones,  old  and  young,  rich  and  poor 
alike,  should  be  taught  to  open  their  own  beds  in 
the  morning.  Those  who  do  not  do  it  im- 
mediately upon  rising,  or  else  see  to  it  that  it 
is  done  by  a  trustworthy  person,  can  never  be 
sure  of  sleeping  in  a  well-aired  bed.  Stripping 
one's  own  bed  is  the  absolutely  safe  plan,  for 
that  makes  neglect  of  airing  out  of  the  question 
for  the  one  who  puts  the  room  in  order.  No 
matter  how  many  servants  there  may  be  em- 
ployed in  a  house,  it  is  impossible  to  tell  when 
negligence  in  this  particular  may  occur.  The 
easiest  wray  is  to  make  a  habit  of  personally  at- 
tending to  this  trifling,  but  by  no  means  unimpor- 
tant, job.  A  couple  of  chairs  placed  facing  seat 
to  seat,  a  little  space  between  them,  before  a 
window,  will  hold  the  bedclothes.  They  should 
be  laid  over  the  chairs  in  the  order  in  which  they 
are  removed  from  the  bed.  This  brings  the 
under  sheet  uppermost,  as  it  should  be,  because 


102  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

it  requires  the  most  airing,  and  then,  too,  they 
will  all  be  ready  in  just  the  order  required  for 
making  up  the  bed. 

Blankets  require  special  care  and  should  never 
be  allowed  to  touch  the  floor  for  a  second.  No 
one  willingly  sleeps  under  soiled  blankets;  they 
are  not  easy  to  clean  at  home,  and  sending  them 
out  to  the  cleaners  is  expensive;  further,  they 
lose  some  of  their  softness  and  beauty  with  every 
cleaning.  It  is  unpardonable  to  drag  blankets 
across  a  floor,  however  clean  it  may  be.  When 
they  hang  over  chairs  the  corners  should  escape 
the  floor  by  two  inches.  Observe  a  new  house- 
maid when  she  strips  a  bed,  if  you  would  know 
how  and  in  what  sort  of  a  house  she  has  been 
trained.  This  is  one  of  the  unmistakable  signs 
which  reveal  whether  she  has  lived  with,  and 
been  taught  by,  a  dainty  or  a  slovenly  housewife. 
But  if  she  comes  from  an  average  boarding 
house,  you  will  know  beforehand  just  what  to 
expect. 

After  the  bedclothes  have  been  removed  the 
mattress  ought  to  be  turned  down  over  the  foot 
of  the  bed.  By  thus  opening  a  bed  before  going 
to  the  bath  room,  and  then,  after  getting  dressed, 
opening  the  window,  top  and  bottom,  before 
leaving  the  room,  one  may  rest  tranquilly  as- 


BEDS  AND  BEDSTEADS          103 

sured  that  whoever  makes  up  the  bed  its  ventila- 
tion is  a  foregone  conclusion. 

Once  upon  a  time,  not  many  years  ago,  in  a 
very  nice  boarding  house  situated  in  one  of  the 
best  portions  of  New  York,  I  spent  some  months, 
and  saw  and  learned  the  ways  of  those  places. 
Nor  was  that  the  only  boarding-house  experience 
that  my  malific  stars  destined  me  to  encounter. 
Those  same  unlucky  stars  led  me  to  dwell  from 
time  to  time  in  several  boarding  houses  in  city 
and  country.  Although  they  were  all  considered 
of  the  better  type,  I  sometimes  wondered  if  mine 
were  the  only  bed  and  bedchamber  regularly 
aired — such  sights  and  negligence  as  were  patent 
to  one  going  to  and  fro  in  those  houses!  It 
seemed  to  me  that  scarcely  anyone  thought  of, 
or  knew  anything  about  having  fresh  air  daily  in 
bedchambers.  One  day,  as  I  passed  an  open 
door,  I  noticed  the  bed  had  been  occupied  by  a 
sleeper  who,  upon  leaving  it,  left  just  the  nec- 
essary opening  where  she  had  gotten  out.  That 
and  the  dent  on  the  pillow  were  the  only  dis- 
turbed parts  of  the  bed.  The  young  woman  who 
had  the  room  had  gone  out;  she  knew  little,  and 
cared  less,  about  what  was  done  in  her  room  dur- 
ing her  absence  so  long  as  she  found  it  in  order 
upon  her  return.  I  was  not  five  minutes  doing 


io4  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

my  errand.  When  I  passed  the  room  again  the 
bed  was  all  in  order,  made!  Doubtless  the  ser- 
vant attending  there  knew  how  to  avoid  work, 
apparently  useless  (?),  certainly  not  imperative, 
and  had  learned  the  secret  of  decreasing  the 
burden  of  duties  belonging  to  that  floor — was,  in 
short,  an  adept  at  labor-saving. 

A  young  widow  who  was  the  sleeping  beauty 
of  that  room  used  to  come  to  the  table  beauti- 
fully appareled,  but  I  never  saw  her  after  that 
memorable  day  without  seeing  also,  in  vision, 
her  bed,  which  probably  never  got  fully  opened 
except  when  it  was  the  day  for  clean  linen — once 
a  week!  Several  years  have  passed  since  that 
time.  The  pretty  widow  married  again  and 
went  to  housekeeping!  Fancy  what  a  house- 
wife she  must  make !  Those  who  go  about  much 
or  little  in  hotels  and  boarding  houses  need  not 
be  surprised  should  they  discover  like  practices 
if  they  trustfully  leave  everything  pertaining  to 
ventilation  to  much  hurried,  and  too  often,  over- 
worked servants.  The  latter  persons  are  not 
to  be  blamed.  The  blame  lies  upon  those  who, 
having  had  greater  advantages,  ought  to  look 
after  these  things  themselves. 

A  lady  well  known  to  the  writer  used  to  place 
a  pin  in  the  binding  of  her  mattress,  every  morn- 


BEDS  AND  BEDSTEADS          105 

ing,  at  the  head  in  a  particular  spot.  The  next 
day  when  she  turned  her  mattress  over  the  foot 
board  she  looked  for  the  pin.  If  it  was  still  at 
the  head  she  knew  that  the  maid  had  neglected  to 
turn  the  mattress  entirely  and  she  would  ask  her 
why  she  had  omitted  it.  She  trained  several 
housemaids,  and  it  never  took  long  to  get  them 
into  the  habit  of  reversing  the  mattress  unre- 
mittingly. 

They  never  knew  how  she  knew,  but  they  real- 
ized that  skipping  would  not  answer  in  that 
room. 

Sitting  down  upon  a  bed  after  it  is  nicely  made 
up  is  a  disorderly  habit  to  which  some  are  prone 
even  if  chairs  are  plenty.  It  is  impossible  to  keep 
a  tidy-looking  room  where  it  is  allowed.  This  is 
not  the  only  objection  to  that  habit:  there  are  sev- 
eral, amongst  them  the  soiling  of  the  spread,  and 
destroying  the  freshness  of  the  bed  for  the  one 
who  occupies  it  at  night;  it  is  also  un- 
mannerly. 

Once  a  month  bedsteads  should  be  washed  in 
every  unseen  part.  A  little  carbolic  acid  in  the 
water  is  good  for  the  purpose  or,  if  disliked, 
household  ammonia  is  efficacious.  If  there  are 
slats  each  one  should  be  lifted  and  wiped  as  well 
as  the  places  where  they  fit  in.  This  practice 


106  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

faithfully  carried  out  will  forbid  the  "  red  rover  " 
from  ever  gaining  a  foothold  in  the  beds.  That 
pest  is  only  kept  away  by  immaculate  cleanliness 
and  strenuous  care.  The  name  usually  given  to 
that  insect  is  so  suggestive  of  abominable  un- 
cleanliness  I  object  to  its  use  on  the  pages  of  this 
book.  My  readers  will  recognize  the  particular 
species  of  insect  now  under  consideration,  as  few 
people  reach  years  of  discretion  without  becoming 
aware  of  its  existence.  Those  who  travel  much 
make  its  hateful  acquaintance  early  and  learn 
its  peculiar  ways,  which  are  dark,  and  its  artful 
tricks  which  are  not  vain.  In  houses  of  families 
that  journey  a  great  deal,  watchfulness  is  most 
important  to  destroy  the  first  invaders  and  pre- 
vent their  incalculable  propagation.  Some  stu- 
dent of  their  obnoxious  possibilities  declares  that 
they  become  "  great  grandfathers  in  twenty-four 
hours !  "  It  is  a  safe  rule  never  to  allow  those 
who  have  been  in  public  conveyances  to  lay  their 
garments  on  a  bed.  Exceptionally  nice  house- 
wives observe  this  rule  at  all  times,  even  with 
persons  who  have  only  been  walking,  for,  with 
their  outside  wraps  they  also  deposit  dust  gath- 
ered while  out.  No  one  can  keep  a  bed  nice  who 
is  indifferent  in  these  particulars.  A  white  bed- 
spread soon  shows  soil  and  a  colored  one  becomes 


BEDS  AND  BEDSTEADS          107 

dirty  even  if  it  does  not  show  it.  The  best  plan 
for  all  who  can  do  so  is  to  have  pretty  and  deli- 
cate-looking spreads  that  people  with  eyes  will 
instinctively  respect.  In  the  chapter  of  miscel- 
laneous hints  will  be  found  directions  for  making 
inexpensive  bedspreads  too  pretty  and  dainty 
not  to  command  care.  Day  bedspreads  should 
be  taken  off  in  the  evening,  carefully  folded  and 
laid  aside  before  a  bed  is  to  be  occupied. 

Returning  to  our  main  subject,  the  red  rover, 
young  housewives,  who  have  had  no  home  train- 
ing, are  apt  to  overlook  this  very  important 
feature  of  all  housekeeping  until  they  are  sud- 
denly confronted  with  a  most  appalling  and  for- 
midable as  well  as  disgusting  task,  which  proper 
atfcerftion  to  their  duties  would  spare  them. 
With  a  spick-and-span  new  house,  and  furniture 
likewise  all  newT,  and  no  woodwork  in  the  house 
that  is  said  to  breed  vermin  of  any  sort,  a  neglect- 
ful housewife  is  certain  to  find  at  some  time,  not 
very  far  distant  from  her  entrance  upon  her  new 
home,  that  she  is  harboring  countless  non-paying 
lodgers  that  occupy  her  beds  day  and  night  and 
which,  if  not  exterminated  before  they  begin  to 
crowd  each  other,  will  spread  and  domicile  them- 
selves in  the  woodwork  and  walls  of  her  home. 
I  remember  a  case  which  came  to  my  knowledge 


io8  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

many  years  ago.  A  young  wife  whose  father 
had  given  her  a  complete  wedding  outfit — includ- 
ing a  house  and  furniture — went  to  her  new 
home  utterly  ignorant  of  the  first  principles  of 
good  housekeeping.  In  less  than  two  years  she 
was  compelled  to  face  the  astounding  fact  that 
some  of  her  handsome  bedsteads  were  alive.  For- 
tunately the  discovery  was  made  in  time  to  pre- 
vent the  odious  insects  from  getting  into  the  walls 
and  woodwork  of  her  beautiful  house.  Then 
and  there  that  untrained  young  wife  got  a  lesson 
— not  of  the  most  agreeable  sort — that  lasted 
for  the  remainder  of  her  life.  She  afterwards 
became  a  very  neat  and  dainty  housekeeper,  but 
the  poor  child  might  have  been  spared  such  a  sick- 
ening experience  if  her  mother  had  done  her  duty 
by  her  before  the  charge  of  an  entire  house  de- 
volved upon  her,  along  \vith  wifehood  and 
motherhood.  The  only  way  to  escape  like  ex- 
periences is  by  the  constant  exercise  of  vigilant 
care  and  watchfulness.  Housemaids  should  be 
instructed  to  give  immediate  notice  upon  the  sight 
of  one  of  those  bugbears. 

The  bed  where  it  is  found  should  be  promptly 
taken  apart  and  examined  thoroughly,  not  a  spot 
or  crevice  overlooked ;  no  matter  how  clean  it 
may  appear  to  be,  without  delay  have  it  washed 


BEDS  AND  BEDSTEADS          109 

with  a  strong  solution  of  carbolic  acid  and  water, 
or  else  pour  ammonia  everywhere  that  it  will  not 
damage  the  woodwork.  Use  kerosene  oil  where 
ammonia  would  be  likely  to  deface. 

Servants'  rooms  and  beds  need  more  watching, 
to  ward  off  these  intruders,  than  other  portions  of 
a  nicely  kept  house.  This  is  because,  when  they 
visit  friends  who  live  in  tenements,  they  lay  their 
out-of-door  wraps  on  the  beds  there.  The  result 
is  that  their  visits  are  sometimes  promptly  re- 
turned, by  proxy,  in  a  way  far  from  desirable,  for 
those  pestiferous  insects  never  make  short  visits, 
theirs  are  visitations.  Possession  with  them  is 
far  more  than  "  nine  points  of  the  law,"  they  pro- 
vide homes  for  their  descendants  unto  the  third 
and  fourth  generation  of  their  children's  children, 
and,  in  that  regard,  bear  a  strong  resemblance  to 
the  multi-billionaires  of  our  day.  But  they  are 
no  respectors  of  persons  or  purses  nor  yet  of  fine 
clothes. 

A  lady,  who  only  knew  splendor  in  living, 
once  found  one  inside  of  her  costly  silk  stock- 
ing. It  is  safe  to  say  that  it  was  a  solitary 
stranger  but  just  arrived,  as  it  had  not  found  its 
way  to  the  regularly  first  chosen  abiding  place  of 
the  red  rover.  The  lady  was  considerably  ex- 
cited at  first,  because  she  fancied  the  advent  of 


no  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

that  intruder  an  evidence  of  more  about  her 
palatial  mansion,  whereas  it  was  a  lonely  so- 
journer  which  she  had  unwittingly  ushered  into 
her  own  dressing  room  upon  her  return  from  an 
excursion  abroad. 

Sempiternal  boarders  and  lodgers  are  in  this 
respect  the  greatest  source  of  danger  and  the 
vehicles  of  transportation  most  frequently  used  by 
the  double  B's  when  they  change  their  residing 
places. 

An  old  house  to  be  occupied,  especially  one 
that  has  had  a  great  variety  of  tenants,  should  be 
fumigated  with  sulphur  before  anything  else  is 
done  in  it.  While  it  is  quite  empty  the  purifica- 
tion can  be  more  thorough  with  comparatively 
little  trouble.  If  wall  paper  has  been  put 
on,  layer  on  layer,  it  ought  all  to  be  stripped 
off  before  any  cleaning  is  done.  Papering  in  that 
way  is  a  most  untidy  practice  and  provides  a 
refuge  for  all  sorts  of  vermin  that  infest  man's 
abode.  It  is  a  wretched  economy  of  time  and 
labor  which  eventually  costs  a  great  deal  more 
than  if  the  work  were  properly  done  at  every 
time  of  new  papering. 

The  subject's  importance  will,  I  trust,  excuse 
this  lengthy  treatment  of  the  "  red  rover."  It 
demands  attention  wherever  it  lodges,  albeit  its 


BEDS  AND  BEDSTEADS          m 

manners  are  unquestionably  retiring.  Loving 
darkness  better  than  light  it  thus  resembles  other, 
and  less  pardonable,  evil  doers  that  make  life  a 
burden  to  all  who  are  so  unfortunate  as  to  come 
in  contact  with  them. 


CHAPTER  EIGHT 


SERF  ANTS'  ROOMS 


Often  like  an  infirmary  for  broken-down  furniture.      Our  ancestors 
had  few  conveniences.      They  were  not  immaculately  clean. 
Light,  heat,  ventilation.     The  best  "  settin'  room." 


safe  plan,  when  one  is  doing  for 
others,  always  to  bear  in  mind 
that  if  we  should  be  reduced  to 
just  what  we  deserve,  appreciate, 
and  take  good  care  of,  we  should, 
one  and  all,  find  ourselves  cut 
down  in  luxuries,  comforts,  and  health.  It  is 
neither  wise  nor  polite  to  deal  with  domestics 
upon  the  basis  of  their  deserts  when  making  ar- 
rangements for  their  housing.  Household  ser- 
vants' rooms  should  be  furnished  in  accordance 
with  the  general  house-funishings  of,  and  the 
manner  of  living  adopted  by,  the  family  that  they 
are  serving.  Their  bedchambers  ought  to  be 
cool  in  summer  and  warm  in  winter,  not,  as  is 
too  often  the  case  in  rooms  specially  designed  for 


SERVANTS'  ROOMS  113 

them,  those  temperatures  reversed  to  extreme  de- 
grees when  the  seasons  are  reversed.  Their  furni- 
ture ought  to  be  good  and  in  good  order  and  kept 
in  repair  as  scrupulously  as  that  in  any  other  part 
of  the  house.  It  is  not  fair,  it  is  scarcely  decent, 
to  treat  a  servant's  room  as  if  it  were  a  sort  of 
infirmary  for  all  the  crippled  furniture  of  the 
house  while  it  is  unlike  the  hospital  in  every  other 
feature  since  there  is  no  attempt  at  mending. 

Where  it  seems  necessary  for  two  maids  to 
occupy  one  bedchamber,  each  should  be  provided 
with  individual  furniture,  beds,  bureaus,  wash- 
stands,  and,  if  possible,  their  closets  should  be 
separate.  This  arrangement  enables  each  one  to 
be  independent  of  the  movements  of  the  other. 
Unless  they  have  free  access  to  a  bath  room,  they 
should  have,  besides  a  complete  washstand  toilet 
set,  a  foot  bath  and  a  light-weight  pail,  as 
a  pitcher  of  water,  we  all  know,  is  a  very  scanty 
supply  for  one  who  must  bathe  in  a  bedchamber. 
People  who  work  need  conveniences  for  keeping 
themselves  clean  even  more  than  those  who 
never  take  violent  exercise  or  do  any  hard  work. 
Their  duties  compel  them  to  rise  early,  wash 
and  dress  quickly,  and  even  when  they  go  to 
their  rooms  after  a  day's  work  they  have  to  clean 
themselves  speedily,  as  the  afternoon  respite  is 


ii4  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

not  long  to  wash  and  dress,  and  perhaps  do  some 
mending  for  themselves.  A  couple  of  hours  will 
slip  away  quickly  in  doing  a  very  few  things  for 
decency's  sake.  Let  none  who  have  not 
experimented  in  making  their  domestics'  rooms  as 
nice  and  inviting  as  their  purses  would  permit, 
presume  to  say:  "  Why,  they  would  riot  use  con- 
veniences if  we  gave  them  to  them."  Give  them 
an  opportunity  to  learn  how  before  making  any 
such  declaration.  There  was  a  time  when  our 
ancestors  did  not  bathe  as  we  do.  They  had  no 
conveniences  to  teach,  and  enable,  them  to  be 
clean.  All  in  one  family  went  to  one  place  for 
their  scanty  ablutions.  That  they  were  not  im- 
maculately clean  or  stunningly  well-groomed  in 
those  days  of  darkness  goes  without  saying. 
Neither  is  it  fair  to  say:  "  Oh,  w^hat's  the  use 
of  giving  anything  nice  to  servants? "  That 
might  as  often  be  said  with  reference  to  children, 
and  even  of  the  young  men  and  women  of  a 
family,  who  are  frequently  exceedingly  careless 
and  destructive  of  beautiful  and  very  expensive 
articles.  It  requires  training  and  time  before 
people  generally  learn  how  to  appreciate  and  care 
for  what  is  bestowed  upon  them  and  costs  them 
nothing  at  all.  Domestics  are  not  peculiar  in 
these  matters. 


SERVANTS'  ROOMS  115 

Servants'  rooms  should  be  sun-lighted  by  day 
and  have  good  artificial  light  by  night.  To  give 
a  domestic  a  dark  closet  to  sleep  in  is  unpardon- 
able. Their  rooms  ought  to  have  means  for 
thorough  ventilation,  and  that  is  impossible  with- 
out a  window  opening  to  outside  air.  The 
wretched  closets  designed  for  servants'  rooms 
one  finds  in  apartment  houses  are  a  disgrace  to 
this  age  of  vaunted  civilization.  These  con- 
tracted little  places,  misnamed  rooms,  are  only 
fit  to  be  used  for  wardrobes  or  for  storing  trunks 
and  are  urgent  cases  for  the  interference  of  the 
health  officers. 

After  having  provided  suitably  for  servants' 
quarters  it  is  right  and  proper  to  require  them 
to  keep  their  rooms  clean  and  orderly,  but  they 
may,  like  boys  and  girls,  have  to  be  taught  and 
trained  in  habits  of  cleanliness  and  order.  People 
the  world  over,  high  and  low,  rich  and  poor, 
naturally  love  to  improve  their  environments  as 
far  as  they  can  possibly  do  so.  We  see  this  evi- 
denced in  the  ignorant,  sometimes  laughable, 
sometimes  pathetic,  efforts  of  poor  creatures  who 
have  never  had  a  chance  to  learn  the  difference 
between  what  is  truly  beautiful  and  what  is  taw- 
dry and  absurd.  Witness  the  "  best  settin' 
room "  in  some  out-of-the-way  country  farm- 


n6  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

house,  where  the  family  work  all  the  time  and 
never  go  abroad  or  learn  anything  new. 

I  remember  one  such  place  where  the  parlor 
mantel-piece  was  a  bewildering  conglomeration 
of  trumpery  things  put  up  there  as  ornaments, 
and  on  the  wall  hung  a  photograph  of  the  coffin 
of  the  father.  It  had  a  wreath  of  white  flowers 
encircling  "Father"  in  purple  immortelles.  The 
mistress  of  the  house  caught  me  one  evening 
when  I  was  studying  that  work  of  art  with  a 
friend  who  was  in  the  same  house.  I  had 
a  lamp  uplifted  to  get  the  best  light  possible 
upon  the  picture  when  the  widow  appeared  upon 
the  scene.  Fortunately  for  her  peace  of  mind 
and  our  credit  she  never  doubted  that  we  were 
transfixed  with  admiration,  for  she  promptly  in- 
formed us  what  the  lugubrious  picture  cost! 

But  the  point  is  that,  given  the  chance  to  im- 
prove and  examples  worthy  of  being  followed, 
people,  as  a  rule,  gladly  seize  every  opportunity 
to  beautify  their  surroundings.  Beautiful  things 
and  dainty  environment  educe  and  cultivate  order 
and  cleanliness,  perhaps  not  all  at  once,  but  as- 
suredly in  time. 

I  once  heard  a  story  told  by  a  noble  woman 
whose  name  is  always  associated  in  my  mind  with 
the  beautiful  work  that  she  has  done  amongst  the 


SERVANTS'  ROOMS  117 

"  Little  Mothers  of  New  York."  She  said  that 
a  lovely  rosebud  had  been  the  indirect  means  of 
transforming  a  wretched  room  in  a  tenement 
house  from  squalor  to  cleanliness  and  order. 
Someone  gave  the  flower  to  a  little  girl,  who  took 
it  to  her  forlorn  home  and  put  it  in  a  glass  of 
water  on  the  mantel-piece.  The  rosebud's  love- 
liness so  shamed  the  entire  mantel  in  the  eyes  of 
the  family,  the  place  had  to  be  cleaned  and  made 
fit  to  hold  the  beautiful  flower.  The  clean  and 
tidy  mantel  made  all  about  it  look  so  unsightly  in 
contrast  that  the  work  of  cleaning  continued  step 
by  step  until  the  whole  place  was  changed  from 
its  former  miserable  condition  to  cleanliness  and 
order,  and  this  wonderful  improvement  was 
brought  about  by  the  advent  in  their  midst  of  a 
perfect  flower.  One  cannot  but  envy  the  happy 
person  who  thought  to  give  that  exquisite  rose 
to  the  poor,  shabby  little  girl. 

Give  to  the  hard-working  ones  in  your  homes 
all  that  you  can  to  brighten  their  lives  and  uplift 
their  thoughts;  a  few  pictures  on  the  walls  of 
their  rooms,  and  now  and  then  a  flower  that  will 
speak  to  them  more  eloquently  than  is  possible 
for  any  human  voice  of  the  beauty  of  purity  and 
the  heavenliness  of  order  when  they  are  alone  in 
then  rooms  with  time  to  think. 


n8  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

However  great  the  variety  in  human  beings 
there  is  one  thing  to  which  all  respond  in  kind, 
if  not  in  quality,  and  that  is  the  spirit  of  kind- 
liness. And  there  is  a  striking  similarity  in  all 
of  us  whenever  beauty,  luxury,  and  the  good 
things  of  earth  come  our  way ;  we  all  take  to  them 
naturally  and  assimilate  them  promptly.  The 
proof  of  this  is  found  everywhere  in  the  homes 
of  the  "  new  rich,"  albeit  it  commonly  requires 
one  generation  before  they  appear  to  the  manner 
born.  But  that  is  not  remarkable  when  we  con- 
sider the  leaps  and  bounds  taken  by  some  from 
poverty  and  privation  to  the  realm  of  the  million- 
aires. 

One  of  the  most  attractive  bedchambers  that 
I  ever  saw  assigned  to  a  household  domestic  was 
in  a  very  simple  inexpensive  home  of  a  young 
couple  who  were  not  well  off,  according  to  the 
world's  standard.  Their  house  was  small  and 
very  plain  compared  with  the  average  homes  of 
their  friends  and  people  of  their  culture  and 
standing.  When  I  was  there  they  had  but  lately 
passed  through  some  trying  financial  struggles, 
and  careful  economy  characterized  their  house- 
hold management  in  every  department.  It  was 
my  good  fortune  to  be  taken  over  that  little 
home.  What  there  impressed  me  more  than  any- 


SERVANTS'  ROOMS  119 

thing  else  was  the  domestic's  bedchamber.  I 
have  seen  a  great  many  rooms  of  servants,  many 
very  nice  ones  too,  but  I  was  struck  with  that 
one  as  never  before  in  all  my  experience  in  man- 
sions palatial,  handsome  or  ordinary.  It  was  as 
completely  furnished  as  anyone  could  desire  for 
making  the  toilet.  The  floor  was  prettily  car- 
peted, there  was  a  rocking  chair,  undoubted  evi- 
dence that  the  maid  had  time  to  sit  down  in  her 
own  bedroom  and  enjoy  it.  The  window  gave 
upon  broad  daylight  with  nothing  to  intercept 
the  air  or  the  light;  the  shades  and  sash  curtains 
w^ere  fresh  and  dainty,  and  the  entire  room,  with 
all  its  appointments,  inviting  enough  to  tempt  the 
most  fastidious  person.  It  was  not  under  a  hot 
roof  in  summer,  neither  was  it  cold  in  winter — 
the  season  that  I  was  there.  It  was  quite  as 
\varm  then  as  the  room  of  the  mistress  of  that 
dear  little  home.  In  fact,  that  servant's  bed- 
chamber was  more  comfortable  and  far  more  at- 
tractive-looking than  many  rooms  where  decayed 
gentlemen  and  women  are  obliged  to  dwell  when 
hard  luck  compels  them  to  take  up  their  abode  in 
lodgings  in  a  great  city.  And  that  unpretentious 
home  was  in  one  of  the  largest  cities  of  these 
United  States,  but,  of  course,  not  in  an  expensive 
quarter.  I  had  never  before  met  the  mistress.  I 


120  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

have  never  seen  her  since,  but  I  understood  very 
well  why  her  one  maid  was  devoted  to  her  service 
and  ready  to  do  anything  for  her.  The  mistress 
had  a  sweet,  generous  nature  not  hypnotized 
by  what  "  other  people "  were  willing  or 
unwilling  to  do  for  their  domestics.  She  fol- 
lowed the  trend  of  her  own  kindly  disposition, 
and  did  her  best  for  her  servant's  comfort.  And 
the  result  was  that,  when  I  made  my  call  there, 
the  maid  was  taking  all  of  her  mistress'  meals  up 
to  her  of  her  own  accord,  because  she  thought 
that  she  was  not  strong  enough  to  go  up  and 
down  stairs.  In  remarking  upon  her  servant's 
devotion  the  mistress  did  not  seem  to  realize  that 
she  herself  had  evoked  the  best  from  her,  by  her 
own  consideration  for  her  comfort  and  happiness 
while  under  her  roof.  One  who  had  gone  to 
her  service  a  total  stranger  soon  became  a  loving, 
devoted  handmaid,  and  the  watchful  guardian  of 
her  health. 

There  is  scarcely  anyone  so  hopelessly  slack 
and  degenerate  as  not  to  be  influenced  by  im- 
proved environment,  and  there  are  few,  however 
daintily  reared,  so  self-centered  and  established 
in  nice  and  orderly  ways,  who  are  not  apt  to  fall 
off  and  go  steadily  downwards  until  they  finally 
are  hardly  recognizable  by  their  old  friends — if 


SERVANTS'  ROOMS  121 

they  are  thrust  away  from  all  of  life's  refine- 
ments. Most  improving  influences  often  reach 
us  through  what  the  eye  rests  upon;  frequently 
they  are  more  potent  than  what  comes  to  us 
through  the  ear. 

It  is  too  true,  I  know  full  well,  that  there  are 
some  young  people  wrho  have  been  reared  in  lux- 
ury and  who  have  always  been  surrounded  by 
beautiful  things,  who  are  yet  shockingly  careless, 
even  worse  than  untidy  in  their  own  apartments, 
notwithstanding  they  appear  in  public  remarkably 
well  groomed.  But  this  is  no  reason  why  others 
who  have  never  had  a  chance  in  life,  and  have 
never  known  any  but  rough,  uncouth  surround- 
ings, should  be  forever  debarred  from  what  might 
evolve  and  develop  the  best  that  is  in  them. 

This  is  not  a  plea  for  giving  luxuries  to  serv- 
ants. It  is  more  a  protest,  by  contrast,  against 
what  has  been  the  rule  regarding  the  sort  of 
places  too  often  thought  "  good  enough  for 
them." 

Finally,  they  ought  to  have  some  closet  room 
and  good  locks  and  keys  to  their  bureau  drawers, 
their  bedchambers,  and  to  their  closet  doors.  The 
servant's  room  is  "  her  castle  " — it  is  the  only 
place  that  she  may  call  her  own.  Whatever 
privacy  she  has  must  be  secured  to  her  there. 


122  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

The  fact  that  she  is  a  stranger  and  a  sojourner 
in  the  house,  by  courtesy,  entitles  her  to  these 
things. 

It  seems  strange  that  one  must  even  speak  of 
the  servant's  bed  to  say  that  it  should  be  good, 
in  every  respect  a  restful  spot  for  a  tired  body, 
pleasant  to  look  upon,  and  decent  in  all  its  ap- 
pointments. 

Here  is  an  unquestionable  fact:  people  who 
are  constantly  changing  their  servants  are  those 
who  show  them  little  or  no  consideration  at  any 
time,  whether  it  be  in  the  character  of  the  rooms 
given  to  them,  or  when  they  are  about  their 
household  wrork.  But  a  pleasant  room  will  be  of 
little  avail  to  one  kept  so  steadily  at  work, 
from  rising  until  bedtime,  that  she  will  feel  too 
tired  to  wash  and  dress  herself  in  the  afternoon, 
or  to  keep  her  sanctum  in  order;  or  who  is  too 
much  hurried,  from  one  duty  to  another,  ever 
to  find  time  to  sit  down  in  her  room  to  think  her 
own  thoughts,  unalloyed  with  a  sense  of  haste. 


U  CHAPTER  NINE  U 


SERVANTS'  RIGHTS  AND  PRIVILEGES 


Individual    rights    like   private    property.      Servant  not  responsible 

for  size  of  family  or  amount  of  work.      Professor  Robert  E. 

Ely's  words.      A  true  story  and  a  letter. 


HOSE  who  are  scrupulously 
just  acknowledge,  and  care- 
fully avoid  interfering  with, 
the  rights  of  others,  no  matter 
in  what  relation  they  may 
stand  to  them.  Whether  it 
be  aT^arent  and  child,  or  as  employer  and  em- 
ployee, or  in  those  relations  reversed,  the  rights 
of  all  of  us  are  as  much  our  own  as  any  private 
property  which  belongs  to  us,  and  whoever  in- 
fringes on  any  of  our  rights,  intentionally  or 
unintentionally,  robs  us. 

A  privilege  is  a  favor  which  one  may  confer 
but  yet  has  a  perfect  right  to  withhold,  or  which, 
with  good  cause,  may  even  be  withdrawn  after 
having  been  granted.  Not  so  a  right.  While  a 
right  may  have  to  be  established,  if  it  has  been 
123 


i24  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

infringed  upon,  it  is  none  the  less  a  right,  and  as 
much  our  own  as  anything  that  we  possess  un- 
molested by  the  unwarrantable  interference  of 
another.  Almost  all  lawsuits,  feuds,  public  and 
private,  as  well  as  the  bloody  wars  that  have  dis- 
graced mankind,  have  been  the  result  of  infringe- 
ment upon  someone's  rights,  in  a  word — injustice. 
Privileges  •  are  granted  because  of  the  kindly 
feeling  of  the  granter,  or  possibly,  at  times,  be- 
cause something  is  expected  in  return.  Thanks 
are  always  due  from  the  recipient  who  is  favored 
with  privileges.  But  we  take  our  rights  when- 
ever we  are  not  hindered  from  so  doing,  and  are 
under  no  obligations  at  all  to  express  any  thanks 
for  being  left  in  undisturbed  possession  of  what 
belongs  to  us.  The  domestic  enters  household 
service  with  a  verbal  agreement  regarding  her 
duties  and  certain  wages  and  leisure  times  stipu- 
lated for.  These  are  her  rights,  and  anyone  who 
deprives  her  of  any  one  of  them  is  guilty  of  in- 
justice, and,  if  it  be  done  without  her  free  con- 
sent, is  also  open  to  the  charge  of  having  broken 
the  contract.  The  maid  has  as  good  a  right  to 
refuse  to  wash,  or  iron,  or  cook,  or  sweep,  after 
agreeing  to  do  that  work,  as  the  employer  has  to 
deprive  her  of  her  day  off,  or  her  leisure  hours 
because  she  happens  to  be  in  the  house.  Simply 


SERVANTS'  RIGHTS  125 

because  the  girl  is  within  call — when  it  is  her 
time  off — gives  no  employer  even  the  privilege, 
much  less  any  right,  to  call  upon  her  for  service 
at  those  times.  On  the  contrary,  no  matter  what 
the  emergency,  fire  and  flood  excepted,  if  it  be 
her  time  off  a  maid  should  not  be  asked  to  do 
anything  without  a  definite  acknowledgment 
that  you  are  asking  a  favor  of  her,  and  intend  to 
repay  it,  or  else  a  bargain  should  be  made  for 
the  extra  service  desired.  And,  further,  the  serv- 
ant has  a  perfect  right  to  decline  to  sacrifice  her 
precious  leisure  for  any  compensation  whatever. 
When  we  realize  how  little  personal  freedom, 
or  time  to  call  their  own,  house  servants,  women 
especially,  usually  have,  it  is  no  wonder  that  they 
feel  aggrieved  to  be  called  from  their  rooms, 
after  they  have  spent  many  hours  at  continuous 
work,  and  their  lawful  period  of  respite  has  ar- 
rived. It  is  not  a  question  of  how  all  the  house- 
work is  to  get  done,  neither  is  it  a  question  of 
how  the  overburdened  housewife  is  to  get  along, 
but  it  is  a  question  of  fair  hours  for  one  who  is 
in  no  way  responsible  for  the  amount  of  house- 
work that  has  to  be  done  in  a  large  family  with 
only  one  or  two  domestics,  or  in  any  case  where 
the  "  hired  help  "  is  inadequate.  "  Put  yourself 
in  her  place  "  is  a  good  motto  for  every  incon- 


126  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

siderate  housekeeper  to  con  daily.  Probably 
carelessness  with  regard  to  the  rights  of  house- 
hold servants  causes  the  greater  part  of  the  dis- 
satisfaction of  those  who  "live  out,"  and  prevents 
others,  who  might  be  willing  to  experiment  in 
self-support  by  going  out  to  service,  from  enter- 
taining the  thought. 

Only  a  little  while  ago  in  one  of  our  papers 
nearly  a  page  was  devoted  to  the  much-bruited 
subject  of  domestic  service.  Amongst  other  state- 
ments was  the  following : 

"  The  most  bitter  opponents  to  their  daughters 
becoming  servants  are  the  mothers  who  have  been 
domestics  themselves.  They  place  every  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  having  the  girls  trained,  they  make 
every  effort  to  procure  them  work  in  factories  or 
shops,  and  prefer  that  they  should  bring  home 
less  money  than  they  could  earn  by  living  out." 

It  behooves  all  householders  to  ask  themselves 
the  question :  "  Why  this  repugnance  on  the  part 
of  the  mothers  who  have  been  domestics  them- 
selves? "  It  speaks  volumes  to  those  who  think. 

Along  with  her  rights  why  should  not  a  rea- 
sonably good  servant  be  accorded  some  privileges 
in  the  home  of  her  mistress?  True,  it  is  not  her 
home.  It  is  only  her  abiding  or  sojourning  place 
for  work.  Her  own  room  is  the  only  spot  where 


SERVANTS'  RIGHTS  127 

she  can  feel  at  all  at  home.  And  that  too  often  is 
a  most  uninviting,  dreary  place.  If  it  be  true,  as 
is  frequently  said,  that  girls  living  out  "  have  a 
good  home,  a  comfortable  room,  nourishing  food, 
and  the  protection  of  the  household,"  why  do 
they  gladly  give  up  so  much  that  is  desirable  and 
seek  to  support  themselves  in  almost  any  other 
way  open  to  them?  There  must  be  a  strong 
reason  for  both  the  girls  and  their  mothers,  who 
know,  from  personal  experience,  just  what  are 
the  advantages  and  the  disadvantages  about  ser- 
vice in  households  generally,  to  be  in  such  strict 
accord  upon  the  subject. 

"  In  almost  all  other  departments  of  the  work- 
a-day  world,"  said  Professor  Robert  Erskine  Ely 
in  a  recent  lecture,  "  some  phase  of  democratic 
feeling  has  filtered  through  except  that  of  domes- 
tic service.  This  is  still  in  the  pall  of  feudal 
darkness.  And  it  is  the  women  who  keep  it  so, 
and  the  women  who  must  eventually  emancipate 
it.  Laws  and  laments,  increased  wages  or  gifts 
will  not  work  enfranchisement.  The  rights  of 
the  \voman  domestic  must  be  recognized  by  the 
woman  employer  as  sacred  and  inalienable  before 
the  so-called  '  servant  problem  '  can  be  solved. 
As  matters  stand  now  there  is  no  system,  no  scale 
of  hours  or  wages,  no  standard  of  any  sort  be- 


128  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

tvveen  mistress  and  maid,  and  the  treatment  of 
each  by  the  other  is  left  to  the  caprice  of  the  tem- 
perament, and,  too  often,  temper,  and  there  is  no 
redress  but  dismissal  or  '  leaving.'  This  is  a 
state  of  affairs  that  ought  not  to  exist  among 
American  women,  cultured  wives  and  mothers — 
the  homekeepers  of  our  great  democratic  na- 
tion." 

"  Living  out  "  is  a  very  expressive  term,  be- 
cause those  who  are  at  domestic  service,  although 
under  a  home  roof,  are  outside  of  home  life.  This 
isolation  has  naturally  bred  in  the  minds  of  the 
serving  class  an  indifference  towards  those  whom 
they  serve  equal  to  the  average  employer's  indif- 
ference towards  them.  Contempt  now  meets 
contempt.  Along  with  this  unwholesome,  in- 
human mental  attitude  of  class  towards  class,  a 
determination  has  developed  amongst  those  who 
serve,  to  unite  in  demanding  strict  business  trans- 
actions between  mistress  and  maid.  With  busi- 
ness relations  and  the  eight-hour  law  effective 
in  households,  all  overtime  service  will  have  to  be 
reckoned  and  paid  for,  and  night  work  will  then 
command  double  wages,  as  it  does  elsewhere  in 
the 'business  world.  Entertaining,  unexpected  or 
not,  will  cost  more  than  it  has  heretofore.  Ex- 
traordinary service  in  times  of  sickness  will  also 


SERVANTS'  RIGHTS  129 

be  taken  into  account,  and,  in  fact,  there  will  be 
a  revolution  in  every  household  where  one  or 
more  domestics  have  been  employed.  The  serv- 
ant problem,  therefore,  assumes  a  new  aspect, 
and  appears  to  be  more  formidable  than  ever. 
As  the  supply  now  is  hardly  equal  to  the  demand, 
the  first  question  will  erelong  be:  How  many 
hours  of  service  can  we  afford,  and  what  can  we 
do  without  altogether? 

Boarding — the  respectable  tramp  life — will  be 
resorted  to  by  many.  But  all  families  cannot 
break  up  and  board.  The  bare  idea  to  some  is 
repugnant.  Not  everyone  takes  kindly  to  the 
change  from  home  privacy  to  perpetual  publicity 
and  contact  with  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men, 
women,  and  children  that  one  meets  in  boarding 
houses.  And  no  matter  how  many  may  choose 
to  break  up  and  board,  that  will  not  settle  the 
vexed  servant  question.  It  will  simply  change 
it  somewhat  without  improving  the  service.  The 
more  boarding  houses  and  hotels  we  have,  the 
greater  number  of  servants  will  in  them  be 
spoiled  for  private  houses.  None  but  those  who 
can  do  without  domestics  altogether  can  evade 
this  new  feature  of  the  problem.  As  there  is  no 
cessation  to  housework,  and  few  are  so  in  love 
with  it  as  to  do  it  from  choice,  those  wrho  are 


130  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

wise  and  do  not  choose  the  hardest  way  out,  will 
adopt  the  proposed  new  methods  and  promptly 
shape  their  household  management  in  accordance 
with  them.  Then,  perhaps,  by  degrees  domestic 
service  will  become  less  objectionable.  Women 
seeking  self-support  will  not  regard  it  as  the  last 
resort  of  the  ignorant,  incompetent  lower  class 
of  wage-earners.  Nor  will  they  feel  degraded 
by  it  when  they  do  not  sell  their  time  by  the 
week  or  month,  or  feel  compelled  to  be  constantly 
at  the  beck  and  call  of  a  mistress  who  claims  an 
account  of  almost  every  hour  in  the  day.  Not 
long  ago  the  writer  undertook  to  get  an  ex- 
cellent woman,  whom  she  had  long  known,  to 
return  to  domestic  service,  which  had  been  her 
means  of  support  until  she  married.  Her  mar- 
riage had  not  proved  all  that  she  and  her  friends 
hoped  it  would  be.  There  were  times  when  she 
had  to  go  out  to  day's  work  to  maintain  her  little 
home.  The  place  offered  was  exceptionally  de- 
sirable. The  mistress  was  so  kind  and  consid- 
erate that  she  seldom  changed  her  domestics. 
The  one  whose  place  was  then  to  be  filled  had 
lived  with  her,  off  and  on,  for  over  twenty  years, 
having  married  and  become  a  widow  during  that 
time.  The  wages  were  uncommonly  high,  the 
house  very  easy  to  live  and  work  in,  having 


SERVANTS'  RIGHTS  131 

all  modern  conveniences,  while  the  family  con- 
sisted of  a  widow  and  her  two  kind  and  capable 
daughters.  It  was  thought  that  it  would  be  just 
the  place  for  the  woman  and  her  little  boy,  whom 
it  was  proposed  should  accompany  his  mother. 
The  offer  of  a  nice,  permanent  place  in  a  beau- 
tiful neighboring  city  combining  the  beauty  of 
the  country  with  the  advantages  of  life  in  town, 
seemed  to  the  writer  worthy  of  the  woman's 
serious  consideration.  Accordingly,  a  letter  was 
sent  making  the  proposition.  Here  is  the  reply: 

"  Dear  Miss  

"  Received  your  letter.  It  is  kind  of  you  to 
think  of  me,  but  as  for  my  taking  a  place  again 
I  have  never  been  thinking  of  it.  I  go  out  to 
work  at  times,  as  I  like  to  do,  but  it  is  nice  to 
have  a  little  home  to  go  to  in  the  evening.  It 
is  altogether  different  from  being  a  servant.  But 
I  hope  I  shall  never  need  to  do  that  again.  If  so 
my  plans  would  have  to  be  different  from  taking 
the  boy  with  me.  But  I  hope  it  shall  never  be, 
as  I  am  so  happy  in  our  little  home.*  I  thank 
you  all  the  same." 

This  is  the  frank  expression  of  an  uncommonly 

*  A  little  East  Side  flat, 


132  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

capable  woman,  who  always  had,  and  kept,  good 
places — never  changing  except  for  an  unavoidable 
reason.  Years  ago  she  said:  "  Oh,  I  long  to  have 
a  little  home.  I  do  not  want  to  be  a  servant  all 
my  life.  I  am  willing  to  work  harder  than  I  do 
now,  if  I  can  only  have  a  home."  Deep  down, 
ineradicable  in  every  good  woman's  heart,  is  the 
longing  for  a  home.  For  its  sake  much  will  be 
borne  patiently  that  would  be  hard  to  endure 
amongst  strangers.  Assurance  of  periodic  free- 
dom to  go  and  come  as  they  please,  answerable 
to  no  one,  the  comfort  of  having  one  day  in  seven 
all  to  themselves,  these  are  some  of  the  strongest 
inducements  to  many  for  leaving  domestic  service 
and  seeking  other  ways  of  earning  a  living.  Most 
of  us  know  that  it  has  not  been  uncommon  for 
a  servant  to  be  compelled  to  give  up  her  rightful 
outing  to  suit  her  employer's  convenience,  espe- 
cially in  case  of  unexpected  entertaining  01  be- 
cause of  illness  in  the  family.  And  no  one  but 
the  disappointed  girl  herself  thought  of  the  in- 
justice of  encroaching  upon  her  scant  holiday 
time.  Shall  we  wonder,  then,  that  house  servants 
have  not  appreciated  those  much  vaunted  "  home 
advantages  "  ?  Assured  periodic  freedom — the 
birthright  of  every  human  being  in  the  work-a- 
day  world — should  be  respected  by  employers  ex- 


SERVANTS'  RIGHTS  133 

actly  as  they  would  wish  to  have  their  own  in- 
alienable rights  respected  by  others.  Then,  too, 
that  sharp  line  of  demarcation,  called  in  the 
Orient  "  caste,"  and  having  its  counterpart— 
"  social  sphere  " — in  the  Occident,  often  leads 
people  to  neglect  common  courtesy  in  dealing 
with  their  domestics,  while  at  the  same  time  ex- 
acting from  them  the  strictest  letter  of  the  law  of 
subservience  towards  themselves.  This  has  been 
so  common  it  has  caused  little  or  no  remark  even 
amongst  kindhearted  people — such  is  the  force  of 
habit  or  custom.  But  lately  a  halt  has  been  called 
all  along  the  line  of  household  service.  A  "  ser- 
vants' union "  looms  upon  the  horizon,  and 
Massachusetts  leads  off  with  the  initial  step. 

Whoever  doubts  the  rapid  spread  and  final 
success  of  that  movement  is  not  awake  to  the 
signs  of  the  times.  The  wheels  of  progress  may 
be  clogged,  they  cannot  be  stopped.  It  is  com- 
mon for  people  to  put  stumbling  blocks  in  the 
way  of  changes  that  in  the  end  they  are  glad  to 
see  carried  out.  Eventually,  the  adoption  of 
schedules  of  time  and  payment  for  all  services  at 
fixed  rates  will  be  as  beneficial  to  the  mistress 
as  to  the  maid.  It  will  bring  about  a  better 
understanding  between  them.  Neither  one  can 
then  impose  upon  the  other.  Gradually  a  higher 


134  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

class  of  self-supporting  ones  will  be  attracted  into 
households,  because  business  methods  will  dig- 
nify domestic  service  in  the  estimation  of  wage- 
earners.  Shops  and  factories  will  no  longer  pre- 
sent special  inducements  because  of  stated  hours 
for  work  and  uninterrupted  periods  of  freedom 
that  have  tempted  many  who  might  have  gone 
into  domestic  service  but  for  the  confinement  at- 
tending it.  The  new  order  will  raise  domestic 
service  in  the  general  estimation  because  the  old 
contempt  for  those  who  choose  such  service  will 
die.  Modern  business  methods  superseding  feu- 
dal ideas  will  lift  the  "  pall  of  darkness  "  from 
household  service  and  solve  the  wearisome  ser- 
vant problem,  to  the  relief  of  all  concerned. 
Then  speed  the  day  when  fair  business  methods 
shall  bind  both  mistress  and  maid ! 


CHAPTER  TEN 


ENGAGING    AND    DISCHARGING 
SERVANTS 


Agreement  regarding  duties,  wages,  daily  leisure  time,  and  outmgs. 
Written  reference  sometimes  misleading.      Comparative  stand- 
ards.     Anecdote  of  lady  of  the  old  school. 


SEARCHING    AND    WRITING    REFERENCES 

HEN  about  to  engage  one,  who 
is  a  total  stranger  to  you  and 
your  household,  to  become  an 
inmate  of  your  home,  in  any 
capacity,  it  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  learn  all  about 
that  person's  character  beforehand,  and  also  to 
have  a  clear,  unequivocal  agreement  at  the  outset 
between  the  employer  and  the  possible  employee 
as  to  the  duties  belonging  to  the  post  to  be  filled, 
the  wages  to  be  paid,  the  outing  times,  the  hours 
of  leisure  accorded  daily;  indeed  everything 
relating  to  their  mutual  relations  and  obliga- 
tions should  be  understood  when  the  bargain 


136  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

is  first  made.  Having  all  details  distinctly 
specified  in  the  agreement  tends  to  the 
promotion  of  harmony,  and  consequently  spares 
both  mistress  and  maid  from  an  early 
rupture  of  their  relations,  as  well  as  the 
inconvenience  ensuing  to  both.  By  having  this 
perfectly  defined,  although  unwritten,  contract 
made  in  advance,  and  then  strictly  adhered 
to  by  both  parties  concerned  in  it,  they  cannot 
fail  to  get  along  afterwards  without  friction  or 
any  serious  differences  of  opinion  regarding  the 
maid's  duties,  rights,  and  possible  privileges. 
(There  is  a  distinct  contrast  between  a  servant's 
rights  and  her  privileges,  because  her  rights  enter 
into  the  contract.  The  unamiable  employer  may 
deny  all  privileges  to — but  may  not  interfere 
with  the  rights  of — her  servant,  unless  willing  to 
meet  legal  action  for  the  contract  broken.) 

While  an  experienced  person,  who  is  also  a 
good  judge  of  physiognomy,  may  sometimes  ven- 
ture to  engage  a  stranger  without  carefully 
searching  her  references,  as  a  rule  this  is  not  a 
wise  procedure.  Young  and  inexperienced  house- 
keepers should  be  especially  guarded  in  these  par- 
ticulars, and  take  no  one  into  their  homes  without 
being  assured  that  their  records  are  good  and 
their  references  reliable.  Although  written  ref- 


ENGAGING   SERVANTS          137 

erences  are  often  misleading,  and  frequently 
make  no  mention  of  what  we  most  desire  to  know 
before  engaging  a  new  domestic,  yet  a  written 
reference  may  be  of  great  assistance  to  one  leav- 
ing a  situation  and  to  her  next  mistress  in  deter- 
mining whether  she  wrould  better  follow  it  up  or 
desist  from  further  consideration  of  the  eligibility 
of  the  one  offering  it.  However  little  may  be 
conveyed  to  one  reading  a  reference,  it  opens  the 
way  for  seeking,  and  obtaining,  definite  informa- 
tion upon  important  points  regarding  the  char- 
acter and  competency  of  one  whom  we  may  think 
seriously  of  engaging.  It  is  desirable  to  see  or 
to  get  a  reference  from  the  last  employer  of  an 
applicant,  provided  the  maid  was  in  that  person's 
service  any  length  of  time.  The  best  reference, 
of  course,  is  usually  one  given  by  a  mistress  with 
whom  the  servant  has  stayed  the  longest  time. 
That  speaks  well  for  both  of  them.  The  first 
essentials  for  a  desirable  reference  are  hon- 
esty and  sobriety,  cleanliness  of  person  and 
about  work.  These  points  proving  satisfactory, 
it  is  worth  while  to  inquire  regarding 
her  qualifications  for  the  duties  which  will  be 
hers  in  your  house.  It  is  a  great  compliment  to 
all  who  serve  that  employers,  almost  without 
an  exception,  expect  them  to  be  good-tempered, 


138  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

under  all  circumstances.  For  this  reason  amia- 
bility is  one  of  the  primary  traits  looked  for 
in  a  domestic.  If  a  former  mistress  cordially 
recommends  your  applicant  for  honesty,  sobriety, 
cleanliness,  and  amiability,  and  further  pro- 
nounces her  competent  to  fulfill  what  you  expect 
to  require  of  her,  you  may  rest  assured  that,  if 
her  references  may  be  relied  upon,  you  have  found 
a  rara  avis,  and  had  better  secure  her  without 
delay.  Not  every  mistress  or  master  of  house- 
holds could  come  up  to  that  standard.  The  first 
three  qualifications  are  absolutely  requisite,  be- 
cause in  the  absence  of  any  one  of  them  there  can 
be  no  rest  for  any  responsible  person  in  the  home. 
But,  we  must  all  remember  the  great  variety  in 
people's  ideas  regarding  these  qualifications  and 
especially  with  reference  to  cleanliness  and  com- 
petency. Education  in  these  requisites  is  some- 
times fully  as  necessary  for  the  mistress  as  it  is 
for  her  maid.  You  can  judge  the  value  of  a 
reference  if  you  know  the  housekeeper  who  wrote 
it,  and  the  appearance  of  the  house  and  the  man- 
ner of  the  mistress — when  you  go  to  a  stranger 
for  verbal  information  about  a  domestic — will 
sometimes  show  you  the  worth,  or  worthlessness, 
of  what  she  may  say  in  answer  to  your  inquiries. 
It  is  well  to  take  ill-natured  or  unamiable  re- 


ENGAGING   SERVANTS          139 

marks,  made  about  a  former  servant,  with  several 
grains  of  salt,  allowing  for  a  possible  lack  of 
angelic  traits  in  her  sometime  mistress,  es- 
pecially if  the  servant  gave  the  warning  of  depar- 
ture from  her  service.  I  personally  know  of  a 
very  competent  person  being  kept  nearly  two 
years  from  getting  a  position  because  of  the  un- 
generous spirit  manifested  by  the  one  upon  whom 
she  depended  for  credentials,  when  there  was 
no  fault  to  be  found  with  her  except  because 
of  her  leaving  a  most  exacting  and  unbearably 
disagreeable  mistress  whose  reputation  amongst 
the  class  who  serve  was  such  that,  whenever  she 
sent  to  the  intelligence  office  for  a  new  domestic, 
the  agent  could  never  persuade  anyone  who  had 
heard  of  her  to  consider  a  position  in  her  house 
notwithstanding  she  paid  the  highest  wages  given. 
It  is  much  wiser  to  reserve  to  one's  self  the  right 
to  decide  regarding  the  disposition  of  the  maid  if 
her  honesty  and  capability  are  vouched  for,  and 
especially  if,  in  addition,  she  be  credited  with 
cleanliness,  for  perhaps  she  was  overtaxed  or  not 
treated  with  any  kindly  consideration — no  matter 
how  tired  she  was.  Above  all,  if  a  mother  tells 
you  that  she  was  impatient  with  the  children, 
unless  she  was  a  nursery  maid,  let  not  that  weigh 
one  iota  in  your  decision  to  try  her  in  your  own 


140  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

home.  We  have  all  seen  mothers  who  seemed  to 
expect  a  woman  of  all  work  to  be  hampered  in 
her  work  and  to  endure  anything  and  everything 
from  the  children  of  the  family,  and  even  to  bear, 
without  a  word  of  protest,  seeing  cleaning  all 
undone  in  a  few  moments  by  the  recklessness  of  a 
careless,  untaught  child.  Parents  cannot  expect 
servants  to  be  any  more  patient,  if  as  much 
so,  with  their  children's  foibles  and  naughtiness 
than  they  would  be  themselves,  in  similar  circum- 
stances, with  other  people's  children.  That  is 
the  best  kind  of  a  test,  not  what  you  will  bear 
from  your  own  child,  but  what  you  willingly 
overlook  in  the  child  of  a  stranger.  Parents 
have  no  right  to  demand  from  a  servant  more 
patience  with  their  own  children  than  they  would 
themselves  evince  toward  the  child  of  some  total 
stranger  who  might  be  annoying  to  them. 

If  a  maid,  before  engaging,  asks  to  see  the 
room  which  you  expect  her  to  occupy,  that  is  not 
an  impertinence  upon  her  part;  it  is  one  of  her 
rights.  If,  again,  she  should  think  to  make  in- 
quiry regarding  the  conveniences  which  you  have 
for  her  to  do  her  work,  that,  too,  is  her  right, 
and,  moreover,  it  is  far  better  for  her  to  be  ac- 
quainted with  things  which  so  nearly  concern 
her  before  entering  upon  your  service  than 


ENGAGING   SERVANTS  141 

to  have  her  leave  immediately  because  dissatisfied 
with  her  room  or  any  lack  of  facilities  for  work- 
ing. She  should  be  allowed  to  see  the  room  and 
her  questions  should  be  answered  with  as  much 
civility  as  you  expect  upon  her  part  when  you 
are  questioning  her.  Neither  employer  nor  ap- 
plicant can  occupy  a  lofty  pedestal  while  coming 
to  an  understanding  and  making  an  agreement. 
I  am  here  reminded  of  an  exceedingly  aristocratic 
woman's  saying,  many  years  ago.  She  remarked : 
"  People  of  assured  position  are  never  afraid  of 
being  courteous  to  others,  however  humble  or 
plain  they  may  be."  And  her  daughter  was  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  characters  I  ever  met.  She 
had  a  grand  establishment  in  New  York  before 
palatial  mansions  became  as  common  as  they  now 
are.  I  well  remember,  whenever  I  was  there  on 
a  visit,  being  impressed  with  her  lovely  demeanor 
toward  all  of  her  servants.  She  never  failed  to 
wish  those  who  served  the  breakfast  a  pleasant 
good-morning  as  she  entered  the  dining  room. 
And  at  night,  as  she  walked  up  her  broad  stair- 
way to  go  to  her  bed,  her  white  hand  resting  on 
the  balustrade,  she  always  leaned  over  to  say 
good-night  to  the  man  standing  in  the  hall  below. 
I  never  heard  of  anyone  showing  her  the  slightest 
disrespect,  and  there  was  a  large  domestic  corps 


i42  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

in  her  house.  Her  example  was  one  of  unvary- 
ing courtesy  to  all  whom  she  met,  regardless  of 
their  station  in  life.  Only  by  according  respect 
to  others  can  one  win  unfeigned  respect  for  one's 
self.  Everywhere  now  the  days  of  servile  man- 
ners, because  of  serving,  are  swiftly  passing;  they 
are  the  remnants  and  tag-ends  of  old  feudal 
times.  Whenever  and  wherever  servile  manners 
are  exacted  they  invariably  veneer  sentiments  far 
from  respectful  in  those  who  are  compelled  to 
"  put  them  on."  The  most  disrespectful  servants 
that  I  have  ever  known  were  those  who,  in  the 
presence  of  master  and  mistress,  were  most  obse- 
quious. When  not  in  their  presence  they  recom- 
pensed themselves  by  getting  all  the  fun  they 
could  at  the  expense  of  those  who  required  them 
to  kow-tow  before  them.  When  respect  is 
spontaneous,  because  genuine,  faithful  service  is 
rendered  with  cheerful  good  will.  There  is  but 
one  way  to  insure  sincere  respect,  and  that  is  by 
character-building.  Never  was  there  a  bank 
account  long  enough,  nor  an  environment  grand 
enough,  to  command  respect,  pure  and  simple,  for 
the  owner. 

Charles  Wagner,  in  his  book  "  The  Simple 
Life,"  says:  "  Our  social  errors,  our  want  of 
simplicity  and  kindness,  all  fall  back  upon  the 


ENGAGING   SERVANTS          143 

heads  of  our  children.  There  are  certainly  few 
people  of  the  middle  classes  who  understand  that 
it  is  better  to  part  with  thousands  of  dollars  than 
to  lead  their  children  to  lose  respect  for  servants, 
who  represent  in  our  household  the  humble. 
Yet  nothing  is  truer.  Maintain  as  strictly  as 
you  will  conventions  and  distances — that  demar- 
cation of  social  frontiers  which  permits  each  one 
to  remain  in  his  place  and  to  observe  the  law 
of  differences.  That  is  a  good  thing,  I  am  per- 
suaded, but  on  condition  of  never  forgetting  that 
those  who  serve  us  are  men  and  women  like  our- 
selves. You  require  of  your  servants  certain 
formulas  of  speech  and  certain  attitudes,  outward 
evidences  of  the  respect  they  owe  you.  Do  you 
also  teach  your  children  and  use  yourselves  man- 
ners towards  your  servants  which  show  them  that 
you  respect  their  dignity  as  individuals,  as  you 
desire  them  to  respect  yours?  Here  we  have  in 
our  homes  an  excellent  ground  for  experiment 
in  the  practice  of  that  mutual  respect  which  io  one 
of  the  essential  conditions  of  social  sanity.  I  fear 
we  profit  by  it  too  little.  We  do  not  fail  to 
exact  respect,  but  we  fail  to  give  it.  So  it  is 
most  frequently  the  case  that  we  get  only  hy- 
pocrisy and  this  supplementary  result,  all  unex- 
pected, the  cultivation  of  pride  in  our  children. 


144  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

These  two  factors  combined  heap  up  great  diffi- 
culties for  that  future  which  we  ought  to  be  safe- 
guarding. .  .  .  The  day  when,  by  your  prac- 
tices, you  have  brought  about  the  lessening  of  re- 
spect in  your  children,  you  have  suffered  a  sen- 
sible loss.  ...  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
greater  part  of  us  labor  for  this  loss.  .  .  ." 

When  searching  the  references  of  one  whose 
former  employers  are  beyond  your  reach  as  far 
as  personal  interviews  are  concerned,  it  must  then 
be  done  by  correspondence.  To  avoid  taxing  the 
time  of  those  to  whom  you  write  it  is  a  good 
plan  to  prepare  a  series  of  questions  which  only 
require  Yes  or  No  in  reply.  Always  leave  space 
for  whatever  your  correspondent  may  volunteer 
to  write  with  reference  to  any  special  traits  that 
may  have  appeared  in  the  person  you  are  inquir- 
ing about.  A  polite  note,  written  upon  a  separate 
sheet,  and  as  brief  as  courtesy  will  permit,  should 
accompany  the  questions,  along  with  an  addressed 
and  stamped  envelope,  all  sent  under  one  cover. 

Reliable  intelligence  offices  keep  on  file  the  ref- 
erences of  those  who  are  on  their  books.  Persons 
applying  for  a  domestic  can  have  access  to  the  ref- 
erences of  anyone  whom  they  are  considering. 
No  servant  can  be  registered  on  their  books  who 
has  not  credentials  for  honesty  and  sobriety,  or 


ENGAGING   SERVANTS          145 

who  has  failed  to  keep  an  engagement  to  go  to  a 
place.  Scarcely  anything  gives  a  good  housewife 
more  trouble  than  the  carelessness  of  some  other 
housewives  about  giving  references.  Conscien- 
tiousness and  kindness  should  be  united  when  one 
writes  references  for  departing  servants.  Every 
good  word  possible  to  be  said  with  truth  should 
be  said;  whatever  they  do  well  should  be  men- 
tioned. If  they  are  totally  incapable  for  the  sort 
of  situation  that  they  are  seeking,  and  you  know 
it,  there  should  be  no  hesitation  about  saying  so, 
if  your  opinion  should  be  asked.  It  is  well  to 
realize  that  one  who  cannot  get  along  at  all  in 
houses  of  one  sort  may  do  very  well  in  those  of 
a  different  kind  of  management.  Open  the  way, 
as  far  as  you  can,  for  servants  to  do  their  best 
at  self-support  without  imposing  upon  anyone's 
inexperience  or  good  nature.  If  you  must  dis- 
charge a  domestic  never  do  it  in  a  moment  of 
anger,  even  if  at  the  time  it  seem  to  you  justi- 
fiable. No  matter  what  the  provocation,  wait 
until  you  can  discharge  without  any  sign  of  tem- 
per. When  parting  commend  all  that  she  has 
done  well,  and  let  her  go  feeling  that  she  has 
your  best  wishes.  If  discharging  because  you  are 
reducing  expenses,  or  about  to  close  your 
house,  then  you  owe  it  to  a  good  servant  to 


146  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

do  all  in  your  power  to  get  her  into  a  desirable 
situation  as  soon  as  possible.  But  when  a  do- 
mestic has  proved  entirely  incompetent,  or  in  any 
way  really  objectionable  for  a  nice  family,  it  is 
very  wrong  to  write  her  a  reference  that  may 
possibly  be  the  means  of  misleading  others  and 
induce  them  to  take  her  into  their  houses  to  their 
sorrow.  Very  objectionable  traits  or  utter  in- 
competency  are  soon  discovered,  and  few  care 
anything  about  a  reference  given  after  a  very 
brief  term  of  service,  unless,  in  that  time,  the 
servant  proved  herself  extraordinarily  capable 
and  was  highly  recommended  by  a  former  em- 
ployer. 


CHAPTER    ELEVEN 


KITCHEN   AND    COOKING 


Ignorance    the    root    of  all    our    woes.      A    sequence.      Chimney 

draughts.      Kitchen  no  place  for  children.      Transients  in  the 

kitchen.      Housewife  in  her  own  kitchen. 


UST  so  long  as  people  live  prin- 
cf pally  upon  cooked  food,  just 
so  long  will  cooking  and  the 
kitchen  be,  as  they  now  are,  ex- 
ceedingly  important  features  of 
every  household,  impossible  to 
ignore  or  overlook  with  impunity. 

Many  a  good  cause  has  been  lost  for  the  time 
being — and  many  a  bright  future  has  been  dark- 
ened— by  someone's  indigestion.  Indigestion  is 
at  the  root  of  almost  as  many  of  humanity's 
troubles  as  selfishness  itself.  But,  of  course, 
ignorance  is  the  root  of  them  all.  Whenever 
people  know  better  they  avoid  and  escape  the 
woes  that  come  through  ignorance. 

Without  a  good  digestion  health  is  impossible, 
and  unhealth  is  misery.     Poor  cooking  produces 
H7 


148  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

about  as  much  indigestion  as  bad  temper.  In  fact 
it  is  a  case  of  action  and  reaction.  Indigestion, 
low  spirits,  bad  temper.  Bad  temper,  low  spirits, 
indigestion.,  and  so  on  interminably.  Bad  cook- 
ing, bad  temper,  low  spirits  all  belong  together. 
They  propagate  each  other.  Since  poorly  cooked 
food  produces  indigestion,  poor  cooking  should  be 
abolished.  It  can  be  abolished  by  all  those  who 
set  about  it  by  paying  attention  to  having  the  very 
best  possible  cooking  for  each  meal,  however 
simple  it  may  be. 

As  kitchen  and  cook  are  inseparable,  those  two 
should  be  equally  well  provided  for;  the  kitchen 
with  ample  conveniences,  and  the  cook  with  good 
wages,  and  good  materials  for  the  work  expected. 
No  one  need  look  for  good  cooking,  even  from  a 
competent  cook,  if  inferior  materials  be  supplied 
or  if  the  kitchen  be  unprovided  with  utensils  suit- 
able for  doing  the  cooking  required.  Nothing 
can  be  passed  over  that  pertains  to  the  kitchen ; 
from  the  chimney  draught  down  to  the  larding 
needle  someone  must  be  responsible  and  pay  at- 
tention. A  kitchen  should  not  only  be  brightly 
lighted  and  well  ventilated,  but  also  arranged 
with  a  view  to  sending  kitchen  odors  up  chimney 
and  not  throughout  a  house.  For  notwithstand- 
ing its  importance,  nobody  in  other  parts  of  the 


KITCHEN   AND   COOKING       149 

house  wants  to  be  reminded  of  the  culinary  re- 
gion by  cooking  smells.  With  care  this  can  be 
avoided. 

There  are  many  devices  that  come  for 
getting  rid  of  kitchen  odors  that  ought  to  be 
looked  up  by  housekeepers  and  adopted.  Some 
ranges  have  an  opening  above  them  with  a  slide 
that  moves  back  letting  the  odors  pass  through 
to  the  sky,  by  way  of  the  flue. 

To  have  wholesome  cooking,  however  good 
the  food  purchased,  the  cook  must  be  cheer- 
ful and  enjoy  the  work.  Cheerfulness  cannot  be 
expected  in  a  cheerless,  gloomy  kitchen,  they  are 
incompatible.  Neither  can  a  cook,  ever  so  com- 
petent, do  justice  to  herself  or  send  to  the  table 
palatable  food,  if  stinted  in  any  requisite  for  the 
work.  And  further,  a  cook  should  never  be 
called  away  from  her  work  to  do  anything  out- 
side the  kitchen.  A  moment's  inattention,  or  a 
brief  absence,  may  result  in  the  spoiling  of  a  lot 
of  nice  ingredients,  in  process  of  preparation  for 
the  table,  and  make  extraordinary  work  for  who- 
ever has  to  clean  up  after  something  has  boiled 
over,  or  been  badly  burnt  in  the  oven.  Cooking 
demands  concentration  of  thought  as  much  as 
writing  books  or  any  profession.  No  one  can 
cook  and  at  the  same  time  do  things  foreign  to 


150  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

that  work  without  being  in  danger  of  wasting 
time  and  material. 

If  a  satisfactory  cook  asks  for  additional 
utensils,  to  which  she  has  been  accustomed  or  that 
will  help  her  in  her  work,  they  should  be 
promptly  supplied  and  everything  possible  done 
to  lighten  the  kitchen  labors,  for  at  best  the  cook 
leads  a  wearisome  treadmill  life. 

Housewives  should  be  watchful  and  permit  no 
one  to  go  into  the  kitchen,  when  the  cook  is  very 
busy,  unless  to  help,  and  no  one  should  be  allowed 
to  make  any  work  for  her.  Above  all  things 
children  ought  to  be  taught  that  the  kitchen  is  no 
place  for  them.  My  mother  never  permitted  one 
of  her  children  to  go  inside  the  kitchen.  If  she 
sent  us  with  a  message  to  the  cook  we  were  in- 
structed to  stand  at  the  kitchen  door  and  deliver 
it,  but  not  to  go  over  the  threshold,  and  to  leave 
as  soon  as  we  had  delivered  the  message.  Besides 
being  only  fair  to  the  cook  not  to  permit  her  to 
be  interrupted  by  children  it  is  also  safer  for  them 
not  to  be  in  the  kitchen,  for  at  any  moment  they 
might  get  hurt. 

Suppose  older  people  go  into  the  kitchen  to  do 
some  useful  thing — prepare  a  salad  dressing  or 
make  cake — that  is  no  reason  for  leaving  disorder 
behind  when  through.  There  is  always  a  right 


KITCHEN   AND   COOKING       151 

and  a  wrong  way  of  doing  everything.  A  dainty 
woman  when  at  work  keeps  things  trim  about  her. 
If  making  cake  she  never  lays  anything  that 
needs  washing,  down  on  a  table,  but  keeps  a 
plate  or  a  bowl  for  the  egg-beater,  spoons,  and 
whatever  else  she  may  have  in  use.  When  she 
gets  through,  the  table  will  be  as  clean  as  when 
she  began.  By  a  little  care  persons  can  avoid 
leaving  untidy  signs  of  the  work  they  have  done. 
While  cake-making  goes  on  things  may  just  as 
well  be  kept  in  order.  The  boxes  of  flour  and 
sugar  should  be  wiped  wTith  a  clean  damp  cloth 
before  returning  them  to  their  places.  When  the 
cake  is  in  the  oven  all  the  utensils  that  have  been 
used  should  be  in  the  cake  bowl  and  that  ought 
to  be  filled  with  water  and  left  standing  in  the 
sink,  or  else  washed  immediately  and  put  away. 
Never  leave  anything  to  dry  on  before  dish-wash- 
ing time.  That  is  wretched  mismanagement,  in- 
excusable in  any  but  the  totally  inexperienced. 

Never  lay  eggshells  on  the  table;  it  is  easier  to 
wash  a  plate  than  it  is  to  scrub  a  sticky  spot  on 
wood.  Thoughtfulness  for  others,  especially  for 
those  who  work  all  day  long,  is  a  cardinal  virtue. 
It  is  also,  in  the  kitchen,  a  prime  factor  in  reduc- 
ing the  work  to  a  minimum  instead  of  multiply- 
ing it  beyond  reason. 


152  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

If  you  want  to  make  cake  in  a  great  hurry  and 
think  that  you  have  not  time  to  be  neat  about  it, 
then,  before  you  begin,  spread  over  the  table  a 
large  sheet  of  strong  paper  and  keep  the  mess  on 
it.  When  you  get  through  gather  up  the  paper 
with  all  the  droppings  inside  and  burn  it.  Tran- 
sients going  into  a  kitchen  to  do  odd  jobs  ought 
to  find  out  when  it  will  be  least  inconvenient  for 
the  cook  to  have  them  there.  The  approach  of 
some  persons  is  enough  to  set  a  cook's  nerves  all 
throbbing  at  once,  because  they  carry  confusion 
along  with  them  and  make  a  great  deal  more 
work  than  they  do. 

A  little  while  ago  I  saw  a  review  of  a  new 
book  in  which  the  writer  had  drawn  a  most  entic- 
ing picture  of  window  gardening  in  the  kitchen. 
She  seems  to  have  supposed  that  a  cook  would 
have  plenty  of  time  for  planting  and  weeding, 
etc.  Her  idea  was  that  the  cook  could  raise  her 
own  parsley  and  herbs  and  even  have  beautiful 
little  rosy  radishes  peeping  up  between  the  green 
things  all  ready  to  be  pulled  for  garnishing.  It 
seemed  to  be  the  very  poetry  of  kitchen  garden- 
ing, but — it  was  far  more  poetical  than  possible ; 
albeit  it  was  written  in  prose,  the  poet's  license 
was  freely  indulged  therein  and  stretched  to  its 
uttermost  limits,  at  least  so  it  appears  to  me.  In 


KITCHEN   AND   COOKING       153 

the  first  place  the  average  cook  has  all  that  she 
ought  to  have  to  do  without  any  new  responsi- 
bilities being  laid  upon  her.  However  con- 
venient it  might  be  just  to  step  to  a  window  for  a 
sprig  of  parsley  or  a  few  radishes — provided  the 
pretty  green  and  pink  things  should  consent  to 
grow  and  thrive  in  such  adverse  conditions — from 
what  I  know  of  cooks  and  their  lives,  my  impres- 
sion is  that  without  an  exception  they  would 
much  prefer  to  get  their  herbs  and  radishes  from 
the  market  all  tied  up  and  ready  for  garnishing 
and  seasoning,  than  to  have  their  light  obstructed 
by  boxes  of  earth  with  a  few  sickly  things  strug- 
gling for  air  and  leaning  wistfully  towards  the 
light  if  they  should  have  push  enough  to  get  above 
the  soil.  The  nurture  of  the  things  would  sub- 
tract from  the  cook's  time  for  much-needed  rest 
and  recreation.  No,  no,  let  in  every  ray  of  light 
at  the  kitchen  windows,  study  to  reduce  the  work 
there — it  already  constitutes  the  major  portion  in 
most  households — but  leave  kitchen  gardening 
to  the  gardener,  who  makes  a  study  of  it  and  will 
furnish  what  you  require  cheaper  than  the  cook 
can  raise  it.  Give  her  a  rocking  chair,  let  her 
rock  when  she  has  time  for  it ;  lend  her  the  daily 
paper,  a  magazine  or  a  book  occasionally,  if  she 
has  time  to  look  at  them,  but  leave  window 


154  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

gardening  for  those  who  have  plenty  of  leisure. 
However  aesthetic  it  may  seem  when  read  about, 
it  will  not  be  desirable  in  the  kitchen  from  the 
economical  or  any  other  viewpoint. 

Those  who  expect  nice  pastry  from  their  cook 
should  have  a  marble  slab  in  the  kitchen  for  that 
work.  Good  pastry  cannot  be  made  unless  it  is 
kept  icy  cold  until  it  is  baked.  It  requires  the 
two  extremes  of  cold  and  heat ;  but,  until  it  goes 
to  the  oven,  which  should  be  extra  hot,  pastry,  to 
be  edible,  must  be  as  cold  as  ice  water  for  mixing, 
hard  butter  for  enriching,  and  the  marble  slab  for 
rolling  out,  can  make  it. 

The  table  in  the  center  of  the  kitchen  and  con- 
venient to  the  range  should  be  neatly  covered  with 
zinc.  This  saves  labor,  as  the  zinc  absorbs  no 
grease  and  is  easily  kept  bright  and  clean  with  hot 
water  and  sapolio  or  bon  ami ;  the  latter  is  an 
improvement  upon  sapolio,  and  preferred  by 
workers  generally.  Except  in  very  elaborate 
kitchens  where  a  chef  presides  and  must  have 
copper  utensils,  agate  ware  is  the  best  for  those 
who  cannot  afford  the  new  porcelain-coated  iron 
in  pure  white,  or  the  beautiful  aluminum  ware 
that  comes.  Every  housekeeper  who  likes  to  go 
into  her  kitchen  to  do  nice  cooking  should 
have  her  own  utensils  and  allow  no  one  else  to 


KITCHEN   AND   COOKING       155 

use  them.  She  can  then  be  certain  that  they  are 
clean  and  ready  for  her  whenever  she  chooses  to 
make  any  dainty  for  the  table.  The  pure  white 
ware  called  "  The  Elite  "  is  beautiful  enough  to 
make  one  want  to  cook  occasionally,  using  those 
utensils  of  course. 

The  kitchen  needs  at  least  three  double  boilers 
of  different  sizes,  and  for  special  purposes.  They 
are  a  great  comfort  to  a  cook  because  they  spare 
her  from  much  anxiety  when  crowded  with  work, 
as  nothing  ever  burns  in  the  double  boiler.  It 
must  of  course  be  kept  supplied  wTith  water  in  the 
lower  compartment  when  on  the  range. 

Beside  the  range  should  hang  a  metal  rack  for 
holding  cooking  spoons  and  forks.  It  needs 
cleaning  as  often  as  anything  used  in  the  kitchen, 
but  it  is  a  great  convenience  and  prevents  soiling 
a  table  when  the  cook  is  attending  to  something 
that  is  over  the  fire. 

To  gauge  a  cook's  judgment  notice  her  bread- 
making.  If  invariably  good,  you  may  rest  assured 
that  she  has  judgment  enough  to  be  trustworthy 
as  a  cook.  If  her  bread  is  sometimes  delicious 
and  at  other  times  poor,  you  may  be  certain  that 
she  cooks  by  guesswork — trusts  to  luck,  so-called, 
and  lacks  judgment.  This  applies  to  all  who 
do  any  cooking,  whether  the  housewives  them- 


156  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

selves  or  the  paid  servant.     It  is  a  trustworthy 
test. 

Rules  applying,  and  requirements  and  duties 
belonging,  to  a  kitchen  where  there  is  a 
hired  cook,  apply  with  equal  force  when  a  house- 
wife does  her  own  cooking.  But  it  is  natural  to 
suppose  that  where  the  mistress  herself  cooks  she 
will  be,  in  proportion  to  her  education  and  gen- 
eral culture,  more  dainty  in  every  way  than  any- 
one who  hires  out  as  a  cook  could  possibly  be. 
Because  of  her  good  taste  and  cleanliness  and  her 
superior  advantages  in  training,  her  kitchen  will 
always  be  neater  and  more  inviting  than  that 
of  one  of  the  class  whose  opportunities  in  life 
are  altogether  restricted  and  who,  for  the  same 
reason,  is  obliged  to  earn  a  living  in  what  is 
regarded  as  a  menial's  situation.  But  the  house- 
wife to  whose  manifold  and  varied  duties  and  re- 
sponsibilities cooking  for  a  family  is  added,  should 
be  as  good  and  considerate  to  herself  as  she  would 
have  to  be  to  an  exceedingly  competent  woman 
in  her  service  as  a  paid  cook — if  she  wished  to  re- 
tain her.  While  studying  to  do  everything  in  the 
best  manner  she  should  also  seek  every  means  to 
lighten  her  labors  and  never  permit  herself  to 
become  a  kitchen  drudge,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
prove  to  herself  and  her  family  by  her  dainty  way 


KITCHEN   AND   COOKING       157 

of  doing  everything  that  even  kitchen  work  may 
be  made  something  of  a  fine  art. 

Charlotte  P.  Oilman,  in  her  book  "  Woman 
and  Economics"  truly  says:  "House  service 
keeps  the  housewife  on  her  feet  from  dawn  till 
dark.  Women  work  longer  and  harder  than 
most  men,  and  not  solely  in  maternal  duties." 

This  proves  something  radically  wrong  in  our 
social  conditions.  Everybody  in  good  health 
ought  to  work,  but  no  one  should  be  compelled  to 
work  laboriously  week  in  and  week  out.  The 
household  where  any  one  woman  does  this  is  in  a 
sadly  inharmonious  condition,  no  matter  whether 
the  unhappy  drudge  be  a  member  of  the  family 
or  a  paid  stranger  within  the  gates. 


CHAPTER  TWELVE  U 


TO  OBTAIN  AND  RETAIN  THE  IDEAL 
SERVANT 

Ideal   twentieth-century   servant.      Ideal     employer.      Human  and 

humane  relations.      Good  manners.      Evolution  of  ideal  em- 

oloyer  followed  by  that  of  ideal  servant. 


T  seems  trite  to  state  that  ideals 
depend  upon  the  stage  of  soul- 
development  of  the  human  being, 
nevertheless  the  truth  needs  reitera- 
tion. For  ideals  are  as  various  as 
are  individual  characters  and  they 
advance  with  the  spiritual  unfoldment  of 
individuals.  The  ideals  of  man  in  the  savage 
state  are  very  far  below  those  of  man  civilized, 
and  the  ideals  of  mankind  generally  in  the  present 
stage  of  humanity's  march  are  far  below  the 
altruistic  ideals  now  just  coming  into  our  range 
of  vision. 

Simply  stated,  the  ideal  tAventieth-century  serv- 
ant must  be  honest,  sober,  competent,  respectful, 
obedient,  patient,  and  steadfast — have  the  "  stay- 
158 


THE  IDEAL  SERVANT  159 

ing  "  trait.  These  requirements  would  probably 
constitute  that  ideal  servant's  equipment  which 
might  justify  our  millionaire  friend  in  naming 
the  one  so  qualified  in  his  will.  Having  discov- 
ered and  obtained  that  rara  avis — in  fact  ma- 
terialized the  ideal  servant — the  next  equally 
important  question  is  how  to  retain  the  rare 
bird. 

The  method  is  easier  stated  than  followed. 
The  master  or  mistress  of  such  an  invaluable 
auxiliary  in  the  household  ought  to  be  as  well 
equipped  for  his  or  her  role,  therefore  the  ideal 
employer  should  be,  of  course,  honest,  sober,  kind, 
considerate,  courteous,  appreciative,  just,  and  also 
steadfast,  having  "  retaining  qualities." 

By  steadfast  on  the  servant's  side  is  meant  one 
who  remains  long  in  one  place,  sometimes  even  at 
personal  inconvenience.  By  steadfast  on  the  em- 
ployer's side  is  meant  one  who  keeps  a  good  serv- 
ant even  at  personal  inconvenience,  and  who  could 
not  think  of  closing  a  house  and  discharging  any 
or  all  hands  without  careful  thought  for  the  well- 
being  of  every  reasonably  good  servant. 

The  root  of  most  of  our  domestic  friction  lies 
in  the  utter  indifference  of  average  employers  as 
to  what  becomes  of  those  in  their  service  when 
they  no  longer  need  them.  Servants  realize  and 


160  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

feel  keenly  this  mental  attitude  and  are  conse- 
quently alert  to  find  out  the  plans  of  their  em- 
ployers, in  order,  if  possible,  to  forestall  discharge 
by  securing  new  places  for  themselves  in  time  to 
avoid  being  out  of  situations  at  most  inconvenient 
seasons.  For  it  is  not  uncommon  for  a  servant 
to  be  discharged  because  of  an  employer's  changed 
plans,  and  often,  too,  without  even  a  month's 
wages  in  advance  to  tide  over  the  emergency. 
This  is  one  serious  fault  of  many  who  have  ample 
means  to  do  otherwise;  in  fact  they  are  the 
greatest  offenders  of  all  in  this  respect.  It  is  sur- 
prising to  hear  those  who  do  not  hesitate  about 
closing  their  houses  for  the  sake  of  taking  a  long 
pleasure-trip,  regardless  of  thus  throwing  many 
servants  out  of  employment,  inveigh  at  the 
"  meanness  "  of  servants  they  would  fain  keep, 
for  leaving  them  suddenly  to  secure  more  de- 
sirable and  probably  more  permanent  places,  or 
because  they  know  that  if  they  do  not  go  at  a  cer- 
tain season  it  will  be  more  difficult  for  them  to 
get  settled  in  situations  when  the  employer  is  quite 
ready  to  part  with  them. 

The  householders  who  desire  to  obtain  and 
retain  ideal  service  must  earn  a  good  reputation 
amongst  the  serving  class,  and  also  at  the  agencies 
through  which  they  seek  to  procure  servants. 


THE   IDEAL  SERVANT  161 

This  needs  more  emphasis  than  many  of  them 
dream. 

There  are  houses  so  conspicuous  for  the  pro- 
prietor's utter  lack  of  consideration  for  their 
domestics'  comfort  that  the  mention  of  them 
causes  a  general  shoulder  shrug;  and  capable 
servants  cannot  be  induced  to  enter  them  unless 
by  a  series  of  misfortunes  they  are  in  sore  need  of 
situations.  Written  references  are,  by  no  means, 
the  only  kind.  It  would  surprise  some  who  are 
frequently  changing  their  servants  could  they 
hear  the  concise  characterization  given  of  their 
domestic  economy  by  those  who  know  all  about 
their  household  management  without  ever  hav- 
ing lived  with  them.  And  it  is  safe  to  state,  with- 
out fear  of  contradiction  from  any  experienced 
one,  that  where  you  hear  of  constant  friction  in 
the  domestic  department  of  any  house,  those  who 
hold  the  reins  of  government  are  themselves  un- 
worthy of  good  service.  Inexorable  law  is  ever, 
and  everywhere,  at  work,  and  noble-hearted  em- 
ployers attract  to  themselves  as  good  service  as 
can  be  found.  Those  seeking  situations  are  eager 
to  enter  service  where  reasonable  consideration  is 
shown  to  the  domestic  corps.  The  house  where 
fair  wages  are  paid  without  the  exaction  of  ex- 
tortionate demands  for  service,  where  the  table  is 


162  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

known  to  be  wholesome  and  good,  and  where  no 
servant's  outing  times  are  invaded  for  the  house- 
hold convenience,  will  have  a  waiting  list,  from 
which  a  choice  can  be  made,  ever  ready  to  step  in 
and  fill  vacancies,  and  vacancies  there  will  not 
be  of  frequent  occurrence. 

The  writer  has  kept  house  upon  almost  every 
scale,  run  the  gamut,  so  to  speak,  of  simple,  ele- 
gant, and  palatial  housekeeping,  and  feels  this 
statement  to  be  true  from  every  point  of  view. 
It  is  not  the  proprietor's  wealth  that  makes  his 
house  desirable  or  his  service  sought  by  the  wage- 
earner.  It  is  something  finer  far  than  any 
grandeur  of  environment.  It  is,  in  one  word, 
character,  and  there  is  many  a  simple,  unpreten- 
tious home  where  the  domestic  arrangements  are 
so  just  and  kind  to  all  that  peace  breathes 
throughout,  even  along  with  nice  economy. 

When  human  and  humane  relations  become  the 
rule  between  servers  and  served,  when  heart 
culture,  not  convention,  governs  the  manners  of 
all,  a  new  and  beautiful  order  will  displace  the 
old  disorder  still  too  prevalent  amongst  enlight- 
ened people. 

The  fact  that  one  serves  another  for  pay  is  no 
reason  that  one  should  be  altogether  subservient 
to  that  other.  A  thoughtful  and  well-known 


THE   IDEAL  SERVANT  163 

writer  of  to-day  says:  "  It  is  not  what  is  vulgar 
within  us,  but  what  is  noblest,  that  asserts  itself 
in  the  face  of  offensive  pride;  it  is  manhood  that 
is  wounded ;  it  is  not  wealth,  but  the  spirit  of  the 
wealthy,  that  must  be  arraigned."  We  might 
carry  the  thought  further,  and  say  it  is  not  ser- 
vice in  any  department  of  life  that  is  hard, 
but  it  is  the  usurping  spirit  of  the  served  that 
embitters  many  lives  and  chokes  a  desire  to  serve 
well. 

Faithful  service  not  only  entitles  the  one  serv- 
ing to  fair  and  prompt  compensation,  but  to  in- 
variable courtesy  also.  The  tone  and  manners  of 
those  with  whom  we  come  in  contact  make  or  mar 
life  for  us  all.  Truly  good  manners  are  the  re- 
sult of  heart  culture  and  they  are  not  put  on  and 
off  like  best  and  second-best  clothing  for  special 
environment  or  favored  associates,  albeit  many 
seem  to  think  otherwise. 

Every  economic  problem — the  servant  question 
included — now  vexing  the  so-called  civilized 
\vorld  will  be  solved  to  general  satisfaction  when 
Charles  Reade's  motto,  "  Put  yourself  in  his 
place,"  is  adopted  and  actualized  in  the  lives  of 
the  ruling  class.  It  is  only  another  version  of 
the  standard  given  to  mankind  two  thousand 
years  ago,  by  the  great  type  character  of  the 


164  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

Christian  world,  and  fitly  named  the  "  Golden 
Rule,"  since,  thus  far,  it  has  been  regarded  as 
altogether  too  precious  for  everyday  use. 

The  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  is  this: 
With  the  evolution  of  the  ideal  employer  will 
come,  in  natural  order,  the  evolution  of  the  much- 
talked-of,  dearly-longed-for  "  Ideal  servant." 

NOTE. — This  chapter  was  written  expressly  for  the  Philadelphia 
"  Press,"  at  the  time  that  the  Chicago  millionaire,  John  Parson,  was 
advertising  his  offer  to  bequeath  one  million  dollars  to  the  ideal  ser- 
vant. Since  it  is  impossible  for  anyone  to  be  many  times  a  million- 
aire and  an  ideal  human  being  at  the  same  time,  our  Chicago  friend 
will  have  to  wait  for  another  incarnation  before  he  finds  the  ideal 
servant.  By  that  time  he  may  have  become  one  himself. 


CHAPTER  THIRTEEN 


TRAINING  A  MAID  IN  TABLE- 
SETTING 


She  must  be  neatly  dressed.      Table  linen.      Laying  the  cloth  ac 
curately.      Side  table  for  dessert.      Chair  placing.      Hot 
plates  for  things  hot. 


PON  a  leisure  day  give  the  maid 
her  first  lesson.  Have  her 
come  to  you  neat  and  trim, 
her  hair  in  perfect  order,  she 
wearing  a  clean  white  apron, 
its  every  fold  clearly  defined.  Let  her  under- 
stand, at  the  outset,  that  this  is  obligatory  upon 
one  entering  the  dining  room.  Give  her  the  rea- 
son. Everything  connected  with  food-serving 
should  be  scrupulously  clean. 

First  introduce  her  to  the  table  linen.  Call 
her  attention  to  the  various  sizes,  patterns,  and 
uses  of  each  kind.  Give  her  a  notebook  with  all 
legibly  written  out  for  reference  as  you  proceed 
and  later  when  sheiis  doubtful. 

If   instructed   kindly  and   carefully,   she   will 
165 


166  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

soon  learn  to  distinguish  between  the  different 
styles  and  uses  of  each.  Show  her  the  little 
doilies,  stating  their  various  uses.  Do  likewise 
with  side-table  covers,  tray  cloths,  centerpieces, 
and  every  article  of  table  linen.  Pause  to  ques- 
tion her.  Let  her  repeat  slowly  what  you  have 
taught  her.  When  she  makes  a  mistake  correct, 
quietly,  without  disconcerting  her. 

Let  her  see  that  you  maintain  perfect  order — 
have  a  place  for  everything  and  keep  everything 
in  its  place — that  you  could  lay  your  hand  on 
anything  required  suddenly,  even  in  the  dark. 

Next  take  her  to  the  pantry.  Show  her  the 
china  and  glass,  then  the  cutlery  and  silver,  all  in 
precisely  the  same  way ;  give  the  name  and  use  of 
each  article.  When  questioning  her,  remember 
the  way  children  are  reviewed  in  school  and  how 
school  examinations  are  conducted.  Do  not  ex- 
pect, after  one  lesson,  that  she  will  be  able  to  an- 
swer one  hundred  per  cent,  of  your  questions. 
Be  as  patient  with  your  pupil  learning  the  mys- 
teries of  your  menage  as  you  expect  your  chil- 
dren's teachers  to  be  with  them  in  the  schoolroom. 
By  practice  only  can  anyone  become  expert  at  any- 
thing. Therefore,  with  her  assistance,  begin  to 
lay  the  table.  Permit  her  to  do  all  she  can  under 
your  guidance.  Let  her  remove,  fold,  and  put 


TABLE-SETTING  167 

away  the  colored  cloth  used  between  meals  on  the 
table,  and  get  the  white  felt  cover  to  spread  over 
the  table.  See  that  it  hangs  the  same  all  around. 
Explain  why  it  is  used.  Always  give  a  reason 
for  care-taking.  It  makes  an  impression  upon  the 
memory.  Describe  the  table  linen  desired  for 
that  occasion  and  let  her  get  it.  If  she  seems 
puzzled,  show  her  again.  Leave  the  napkins  out 
on  the  sideboard  to  be  ready  when  needed.  Take 
the  greatest  pains  in  laying  the  cloth.  Place  it 
folded  on  the  table's  center.  Open  it  carefully 
until  it  lies  double  lengthwise,  its  middle  fold  in 
exact  line  with  the  lengthwise  middle  of  the  table. 
If  this  initial  step  be  taken  inaccurately,  the 
whole  appearance  of  a  table  will  be  spoiled. 
The  middle  fold  in  perfect  line  as  directed,  a  cloth 
will  hang  evenly  everywhere  from  the  table's 
edge. 

For  a  dinner  of  six  covers,  as  the  places  are 
named,  let  the  maid  set  one  plate  at  each  end  of 
the  table  and  two  at  each  side,  equidistant  the 
one  from  the  other.  (Cold  plates  remain  upon 
the  table  until  after  the  oysters  and  soup  have 
been  served.) 

On  each  plate  lay  a  napkin,  the  corners  of  all 
pointing  alike  on  every  plate.  At  the  right,  be- 
side each  plate,  lay  as  many  knives  as  the  courses 


i68  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

will  require — the  spoon  for  soup  outside  the 
knives — the  oyster  fork  last,  across  all,  its  point 
resting  on  the  plate's  edge. 

At  the  left  of  each  plate  lay  all  the  other  forks 
to  be  used  with  or  without  knives.  The  small 
silver  should  lie  in  exact  line  with  the  table's 
edge,  all  handle-ends  even,  about  half  an  inch 
equidistance  preserved  between  them.  Above 
the  knives,  at  the  right,  near  the  plate,  stand  the 
water  glass  and  whatever  glasses  will  be  required 
for  wines — the  smaller  around  the  larger  glasses. 

Flowers  should  occupy  the  table's  center  or  else 
a  jardiniere  of  growing  ferns.  When  neither  of 
these  can  be  had  a  dish  of  fruit,  tastefully  inter- 
spersed with  shining  green  leaves,  may  be  substi- 
tuted. In  these  days  almost  everyone  has  a  pretty 
floral  or  green  decoration  suitable  for  a  center- 
piece, therefore  fruit  can  be  arranged  in  two  or 
four  dishes  and  placed  around  the  flowers — the 
tablecloth  always  exposed  between.  Never  crowd 
things  on  the  table. 

Bonbons,  olives,  celery,  and  salted  nuts  in  small 
glass  dishes  should  be  within  reach  of  the  diners, 
but  placed  in  symmetrical  order.  No  dish  should 
be  full ;  leave  at  least  an  inch  of  the  glass  exposed 
above  the  line  occupied  by  little  dainties. 

If   individual    salt-cellars    are   used,    the    salt 


TABLE-SETTING  169 

should  be  smooth,  free  from  lumps,  not  a  grain 
upon  the  edges.  If  large  salt-cellars  are  used, 
place  them  at  the  table's  corners,  their  spoons 
lying  across — each  handle  towards  the  outside  of 
the  table. 

When  soup  is  served  by  the  hostess,  there 
should  be  a  large  napkin  laid  at  her  place  for  the 
tureen  to  stand  upon.  Place  the  soup-ladle 
across  in  front  of  the  tureen,  its  handle  towards 
the  right. 

A  like  precaution,  the  napkin,  should  cover 
the  other  end  of  the  table,  for  the  carver — the 
carving  knife  and  fork  before  the  carver,  the 
knife's  handle  at  the  right,  that  of  the  fork  at 
the  left,  the  blade  of  the  knife  and  the  tines  of 
the  fork  crossing  beside,  but  not  touching  each 
other. 

Cover  the  side  table  with  a  white  cloth  and 
there  arrange  the  dessert  service.  Finger-bowls 
one-third  full  of  cold  water  should  rest  upon 
dessert  plates — a  little  doily  between  each  plate 
and  bowl.  A  slice  of  lemon,  a  leaf  of  rose 
geranium,  or  a  few  English  violets  floating  on  the 
water  may  be  used,  but  these  are  not  obligatory. 

Put  a  knife  at  the  right  on  each  dessert  plate, 
a  fork  at  the  left,  across  the  front  a  dessertspoon. 

Be  sure  to  have  on  the  side  table,  ready  before- 


i?o  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

hand,  extra  silver  and  napkins  in  case  of  an  acci- 
dent occurring,  thus  avoid  embarrassment 
through  an  unexpected  lack  of  something  sud- 
denly needed. 

The  coffee  set  should  be  on  the  sideboard  or 
side  table,  a  small  tray  also,  with  the  sugar  bowl 
and  cream  ewer,  because  all  do  not  drink  black 
coffee. 

Chairs  should  be  placed  as  soon  as  the  table  is 
laid.  Shortly  before  dinner  is  announced  put 
the  dinner  rolls  in  the  napkins  and  fill  the  glasses 
with  fresh  water,  a  little  cracked  ice  in  each  be- 
fore pouring  the  water. 

If  bread  is  used  instead  of  rolls,  cut  it  in  slices 
two  inches  thick,  each  slice  again  cut  in  halves,  a 
piece  in  each  napkin. 

Have  a  plate  of  cut  bread,  or  rolls,  on  the  side 
table  to  offer  whenever  required.  Beside  the  cut 
bread  place  a  fork  for  the  waitress  to  help  anyone 
without  touching  the  bread  herself. 

One  thing  requiring  emphasis  is  this:  Hot 
plates  are  essential  for  all  viands  and  vegetables 
served  hot.  When  the  first  hot  plates  come  it  is 
time  to  exchange  the  cold  ones.  But  no  one 
should  be  allowed  to  sit  without  a  plate,  either 
hot  or  cold,  before  him,  even  if  he  is  letting  a 
course  pass. 


TABLE-SETTING  171 

Scrupulous  care  should  be  observed  in  prepar- 
ing the  table  for  the  dessert.  Have  a  fork  and 
plate  convenient  for  taking  up  all  the  pieces  of 
bread  or  rolls  before  removing  crumbs,  and  a 
crumb-scraper  and  tray  also,  or  else  an  unfolded 
napkin,  crumpled  softly,  for  taking  off  every 
crumb. 

However  simple  the  table  when  ready  and  dur- 
ing a  meal's  progress,  it  will  express  the  degree 
of  refinement  reached  by  the  presiding  genius. 
After  a  meal  again  will  it  silently  testify  as  to  the 
breeding  of  the  family.  For  a  table  ever  so 
neatly  set  soon  becomes  unsightly,  if  those  around 
it  pay  no  regard  to  maintaining  its  order. 

Returning  to  our  main  subject,  training,  re- 
member that  only  through  practice  can  one  be- 
come proficient  in  any  line  of  work.  In  another's 
words:  "Just  consider  how  we  are  taught  any- 
thing practical.  It  is  not  by  hearing  about  mak- 
ing shoes  that  a  man  becomes  a  shoemaker,  but  by 
trying  to  make  them."  The  housewife  must 
know  how  before  she  can  teach  her  maid.  In 
giving  instruction,  "  Let  patience  have  its  perfect 
work  in  thee." 


CHAPTER  FOURTEEN 


TRAINING  A  MAID  FOR  WAITING  ON 
TABLE 


Written   menu    posted    in    pantry    and    kitchen.      Dish    washing. 

Care-taking.      Practical    lesson.       Plate    changing.       Filling 

glasses.     The  sprawling  knife  and  fork. 


OWEVER  simple  the  dinner  to 
be  served,  the  menu  should  be 
written  and  posted  in  the 
pantry  as  well  as  in  the  kitchen. 
IT<— b  J  H  Then  there  can  be  no  mis- 
t=^f^  ^S^  understanding  about  it  or 
about  the  dishes  that  will  be  required  by  the  cook 
or  in  the  dining  room.  By  example  as  well  as 
by  precept  a  thoughtful,  methodical  mistress 
trains  her  maids  in  thoughtfulness  and  in  meth- 
odical habits  for  all  their  work  and  thus 
makes  everything,  in  the  long  run,  easier  for 
all  concerned.  The  written  menu  prevents 
vexatious  blunders  for  which,  without  it, 
no  one  can  be  held  accountable;  it  also  pre- 
serves peace,  avoids  many  useless  words,  after  a 


WAITING  ON  TABLE  173 

dinner  has  gone  agley,  and  may  even  spare  both 
mistress  and  maid  the  trouble  of  parting  and  the 
consequent  annoyance  of  changing,  one  her  situa- 
tion and  the  other  her  domestic. 

During  the  instruction  of  a  new  maid  it  is  well 
to  take  nothing  for  granted,  as  far  as  her  previous 
experience  may  be  concerned.  Whatever  she  has 
already  learned  that  is  desirable  to  continue  will 
be  quickly  manifested  as  you  proceed.  Suppose 
the  menu  be  the  same  that  we  used  in  the  chapter 
devoted  to  table-setting. 

MENU. 

Oysters  on  the  Half  Shell, 

Soup, 

Roast  and  Vegetables, 
Salad, 
Dessert, 
Fruit, 
Coffee. 

The  table  set  in  due  season,  the  sideboard  and 
side  table  all  in  readiness,  the  pantry  should  also 
be  prepared  beforehand  for  receiving  the  plates, 
knives,  forks,  and  spoons,  as  the  courses  are 
changed  in  such  an  orderly  way  as  to  facilitate 
the  dish-washing.  At  the  same  time  it  will  be 
done  in  the  best  manner  to  preserve  the  silver's 


174  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

brightness,  protect  ivory  or  pearl  handles,  and  do 
the  washing  and  putting  away  of  the  china  and 
glass  expeditiously,  with  the  least  risk  of  damag- 
ing anything. 

Before  the  family  is  called  to  dinner  the  pantry 
should  be  free  from  whatever  will  in  any  way  ob- 
struct the  maid  in  taking  in  or  removing  the 
courses.  Have  two  large,  strong  pitchers  filled 
with  hot,  soapy  water  standing  ready  to  receive 
all  the  small  silver  in  one,  and  knives  and  cutlery 
in  the  other.  Care  should  be  observed  to  avoid 
wetting  the  handles  when  they  are  of  ivory  or 
any  material  that  can  be  defaced  by  remaining 
wet. 

There  is  a  fine  art  which  is  neglected  by  the 
majority  of  people,  albeit  it  is  one  that  all  can 
cultivate  if  only  they  will.  It  is  the  art  of  tak- 
ing care  of,  while  using,  things.  Many  a  scantily 
furnished  house  and  many  a  poor-looking  table 
result  from  carelessness  in  the  use  of  household 
belongings. 

As  the  maid  removes  plates  and  small  silver  for 
a  change  of  courses  she  can  quickly  transfer  the 
silver  to  one  pitcher  and  put  all  knives  and  cutlery 
in  the  other — their  handles  up  and  entirely  out  of 
the  water.  The  writer  knows  a  nice  housekeeper 
who  is  still  using  the  ivory-handled  silver  knives 


WAITING  ON  TABLE  175 

that  she  had  when  she  began  housekeeping  over 
forty  years  ago. 

In  clearing  a  table  plates  should  never  be 
heaped  one  upon  another  in  the  dining  room. 
Even  after  they  reach  the  pantry  they  ought  to 
be  set  down  separately  until  there  is  time  to 
free  each  one  of  any  leavings.  By  having  a 
garbage  pail  under  the  basin,  or  a  large,  strong 
bowl  beside  it  ready  for  receiving  the  scraps,  the 
plates  can  be  easily  scraped,  then  piled  in  the  basin 
with  hot  water  drawn  upon  them.  By  following 
this  method,  when  they  have  to  remain  unwashed 
while  the  maid  is  otherwise  engaged,  nothing  will 
dry  upon  them  while  standing — the  water  pre- 
vents it — they  will  be  easily  and  quickly  cleansed 
with  less  risk  of  breaking. 

If  familiarized  with  her  duties  the  maid 
will  be  neatly  dressed  and  entirely  ready  when 
the  moment  for  serving  dinner  arrives.  The 
great  secret  of  doing  anything  well  is  first 
knowing  how  to  do  it,  and  next  knowing  that 
you  know  how.  The  first  is  absolutely  essential, 
the  second  gives  one  confidence  and  its  twin  senti- 
ment— serenity.  The  maid  thus  equipped  will 
be  easy  in  mind  and  therefore  level-headed  while 
performing  her  part. 

Where  there  are  invited  guests  all  the  diners 


HOUSE  AND  HOME 


assemble  in  the  drawing  room  before  the  ap- 
pointed dinner  hour.  It  is  customary  to  an- 
nounce the  dinner  instead  of  ringing  a  bell. 

The  maid  should  be  given  a  practical  lesson  to 
assure  her  doing  this  very  simple  thing  with  pro- 
priety. Let  her  instructor  exchange  places  with 
her  for  a  few  moments.  Send  her  to  the  draw- 
ing room,  then  follow,  and,  standing  at  the  door 
entrance,  say  quietly:  "  Madam,  dinner  is 
served."  At  once  return  to  the  dining  room  and 
take  a  stand  at  the  back  of  the  hostess'  chair. 
Request  the  maid  to  come  and  take  a  seat,  that  she 
may  learn  how  to  seat  anyone.  As  she  approaches 
draw  the  chair  back  just  far  enough  for  her  to 
pass  in  between  it  and  the  table.  As  she  sits 
down  move  the  chair  gently  forward  under  her, 
so  that  she  will  be  seated  easily  without  touching 
it  herself.  Then  go  yourself  to  the  drawing 
room  and  let  her  announce  the  dinner  to  you  — 
in  precisely  the  same  way  that  you  did  in  giving 
her  the  lesson  —  and  return,  in  advance  of  you,  to 
the  dining  room  and  seat  you  when  you  arrive. 
One  practical  lesson  is  of  more  value  than  many 
experiments  with  only  verbal  instructions  and 
verbal  corrections. 

As  soon  as  you  are  seated  and  have  taken  the 
bread  and  napkin  off  your  plate,  she  should  be 


WAITING  ON  TABLE  177 

ready  to  set  an  oyster-plate  before  you.  Let  your 
laying  down  the  fork  on  the  plate  be  the  signal 
for  her  to  change  the  plate,  precisely  as  if  it  had 
been  used  and  must  be  washed  later.  Next  let 
her  bring  the  soup-tureen,  place  it,  remove  the 
cover  carefully,  turning  it  upside  down  as  she 
takes  it  off  to  carry  it  to  the  side-table,  because 
if  there  were  hot  soup  in  the  tureen  there 
would  be  drops  of  moisture  on  the  inside  of  the 
cover  that  might  fall  upon  the  tablecloth  or 
the  floor  when  she  is  carrying  it  away.  She 
should  return  immediately  to  hold  the  soup  plate 
conveniently  near  for  you  to  put  a  ladle  of  soup 
in  it  and  then  set  it  down  on  the  cold  plate  before 
you.  Soup  plates  should  not  be  more  than  two- 
thirds  full  to  be  passed  with  no  danger  of  an  ac- 
cident. When  served  by  the  hostess  the  person 
at  her  right  hand  gets  the  first  helping.  When 
you  lay  the  soup  spoon  down  in  the  plate  that 
is  the  signal  for  her  to  take  it  away  and,  after 
she  has  removed  the  soup-tureen,  bring  on  the 
next  course. 

She  should  place  the  meat  platter  first,  then 
bring  and  hold  the  hot  plate  with  a  napkin  in 
her  hand  under  it  while  you  appear  to  put  a  slice 
of  the  roast  upon  the  plate.  Immediately  before 
setting  it  down  before  you  she  should  take  up  the 


178  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

cold  plate — making  the  exchange  so  deftly  that 
you  will  not  be  one  moment  without  a  plate  of 
some  sort,  hot  or  cold,  before  you.  This  order 
obtains  throughout  the  entire  service  of  a  well- 
ordered  dinner. 

Setting  the  cold  plate  aside,  she  immediately 
passes  the  vegetable  dishes  uncovered,  a  table- 
spoon in  each  one,  and  so  placed  that  when  she 
holds  the  dish  for  you  to  help  yourself  the  handle 
of  the  spoon  will  be  directly  towards  your  right 
hand,  for  you  to  take  it  with  entire  ease.  When 
passing  vegetables  the  bowl  of  the  spoon  should 
be  ready,  holding  one  helping.  In  handing  any- 
thing 'for  people  to  help  themselves  the  waitress 
goes  invariably  to  the  left.  The  propriety  and 
convenience  of  this  will  be  promptly  recognized 
because  the  diners  are  thus  enabled  to  use  the 
right  hand  in  serving  themselves.  Carelessness 
in  this  one  particular  marks  the  inexperienced 
and  absolutely  untrained  waitress.  But  in  fill- 
ing glasses,  which  the  maid  does  herself,  she  goes 
to  the  right  and  fills  without  taking  them  up. 
No  glass  should  be  filled  above  a  half-inch  from 
its  brim.  Teach  her  to  avoid  letting  a  drop  fall 
upon  the  cloth.  As  she  stops  pouring  she  should 
touch  the  edge  of  the  glass  with  the  spout  of  the 
pitcher  or  the  mouth  of  the  decanter,  or  bottle, 


WAITING  ON  TABLE  179 

thus  leaving  the  last  drop  in  the  glass  just 
filled. 

When  you  lay  your  knife  and  fork  side  by  side 
down  upon  your  plate  the  waitress  knows  that  she 
may  make  the  exchange.  (It  is  awkward,  there- 
fore bad  form,  to  lay  the  knife  and  fork  down 
sprawling,  and  those  who  do  so  risk  an  accident 
and  may  confuse  even  an  accomplished  waitress.) 
The  next  course  being  salad,  the  maid,  when  ex- 
changing, gives  you  a  cold  plate.  Salad  is 
handed  in  the  same  manner  as  the  vegetables, 
the  salad  fork  and  spoon-handles  towards  the 
diner,  and,  when  there  is  actual  service,  the  fork 
with  a  few  leaves  of  salad  upon  it  and  the 
spoon,  ready  to  hold  them  in  transit  from  the 
bowl  to  your  plate.  But,  if  the  salad  is  some- 
thing chopped  or  cut,  then  the  spoon  should  be 
holding  a  portion.  Every  dish  should  be  held 
near,  and  low,  enough  for  one  to  serve  one's  self 
with  ease.  This  cannot  be  too  strongly  empha- 
sized. Tell  the  learner  that  all  these  seeming 
trifles,  carefully  observed,  constitute  a  deft  and 
competent  waitress.  It  is  a  good  plan  to  have  the 
waitress  use  a  napkin,  all  the  time,  partially  un- 
folded and  covering  her  hand  while  the  dish  at 
the  same  time  rests  upon  it. 

During  the  progress  of  the  dinner,  whenever 


i8o  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

anyone  wants  more  bread  the  waitress  should  be 
alert  to  see — and  supply  it  from  the  plate  upon 
the  side  table.  She  should  bring  the  plate  of 
bread  with  a  fork  to  the  diner's  right  side  and, 
using  the  fork  herself,  put  a  piece  of  bread  down 
on  the'tablecloth  beside  the  diner.  (The  height 
of  good  service  is  where  one's  wants  are  antici- 
pated and  the  waiting  is  at  once  attentive  and  un- 
obtrusive.) 

There  are  two  ways  of  serving  roasts:  one 
where  carving  is  done  on  the  dinner  table,  the 
other  where  it  is  done  at  the  side  table  by  the 
waitress.  There  is  an  advantage  in  the  latter 
method,  because  then  each  person  can  make  a 
selection  according  to  his  or  her  taste  for  rare 
or  well  done,  white  or  dark,  meat.  When  this 
way  of  serving  is  followed,  slices  of  the  roast 
should  be  daintily  placed  on  a  moderate-sized 
platter  easy  to  hold  and  to  pass  around.  If 
carving  is  done  on  the  dinner  table,  the  maid 
should  stand  at  the  carver's  left  and  take  away 
each  plate  as  he  lays  a  piece  of  meat  upon  it.  In 
the  proper  order  of  helping  she  sets  the  first 
down  before  the  host's  right-hand  guest,  and 
then  continues  on  around  the  table  from  that 
point  until  she  returns  to  the  carver,  who  is  the 
last  one  helped.  This  simple  method  avoids  con- 


WAITING  ON  TABLE  181 

fusion  and  the  possibility  of  overlooking  any- 
one. 

While  the  diners  are  discussing  the  roast  and 
vegetables  the  maid  stands  quietly,  but  watch- 
fully, near  the  hostess,  observing  quickly  when 
anyone  seems  ready  for  a  second  helping,  and 
promptly  removes  plates  of  those  who  lay  down 
the  knife  and  fork. 

Salad  being  the  last  course  in  our  little  menu 
before  dessert,  when  all  the  plates  have  been  re- 
moved she  clears  the  table  of  everything  belong- 
ing to  that  part  of  the  dinner  already  served, 
but  leaves  all  decorations,  bonbons,  and  other 
little  dainties  and  everything  belonging  to  the 
dessert.  Of  course  all  glasses  remain  until 
the  dinner  is  over.  At  this  time  the  large  nap- 
kin at  the  carver's  place  and  the  one  under 
the  soup  tureen  are  taken  away  so  carefully  as 
not  to  drop  a  single  crumb.  This  is  done  by  first 
putting  each  of  the  four  corners  toward  the  center 
of  the  napkin  and  then  deftly  gathering  it  up, 
while  keeping  the  corners  in  the  napkin's  center, 
and  allowing  no  part  to  fall  open.  This  be- 
comes easy  after  two  or  three  experiments  that 
should  be  made  beforehand  when  no  meal  is  in 
progress.  Next  in  order  use  the  plate  and  fork 
for  removing  all  pieces  of  bread  left  by  the 


i82  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

diners.  Then  every  crumb  should  be  carefully 
removed  with  a  crumb-scraper  and  tray.  If  these 
are  not  to  be  had,  a  large  dinner  plate  and  an 
unfolded  and  softly  crumpled  napkin  serve  that 
purpose. 

When  the  table  is  free  from  all  signs  of  the 
dinner  and  in  perfect  order  it  is  ready  for  the 
dessert,  whatever  it  may  be.  In  bringing  the 
plates,  already  arranged  for  this  part  of  the  din- 
ner on  the  side  table,  she  should  be  careful  to  set 
each  one  down  with  the  knife  side  of  the. plate 
at  the  right  of  each  person;  by  so  doing  every- 
thing else  will  be  in  its  proper  place;  the  fork  at 
the  left,  the  spoon  across  the  front  of  the  plate. 
Each  person — when  the  plates  are  before  all — 
quietly  sets  the  finger  bowl  on  the  table  in  front 
of  the  plate  and  the  doily,  at  the  same  time  be- 
tween the  bowl  and  the  tablecloth,  taking  up  as 
little  room  as  possible  with  individual  con- 
venience and  never  intruding  upon  the  neighbor's 
space  at  right  or  left.  The  dessert  is  then  passed 
in  the  same  way  as  all  that  has  already  been 
served.  When  there  is  pudding  or  a  pie  they 
should  be  cut,  before  passing,  and  a  spoon  or  a  pie 
knife  should  be  under  a  piece  ready  each  time  it 
is  handed.  The  maid  has  time  to  place  them  as 
she  leaves  one  already  helped  to  go  to  the  next. 


WAITING  ON  TABLE  183 

Ice  cream  is  handed  in  the  same  way ;  glass  plates 
are  generally  used  for  it.  They  are  always  set 
upon  the  china  dessert  plate,  then  the  doily  is 
under — and  the  finger  bowl  upon — the  glass 
plate. 

Fruit  is  last  before  the  black  coffee,  which  is 
served  in  very  small  cups  about  two-thirds  full. 
Sugar  and  cream  are  passed  for  people  to  help 
themselves.  After-dinner  coffee  is  usually  served 
without  cream  as  most  people  like  it  sweetened 
only,  but,  as  it  is  always  possible  for  someone  to 
prefer  a  little  cream  too,  a  considerate  hostess 
will  see  that  it  is  offered. 

The  manner  of  holding  anything  for  people  to 
help  themselves  is  one  mark  of  a  good  waitress. 
Without  awkwardness  she  should  hold  everything 
low  enough  for  people  to  help  themselves  without 
reaching,  near  enough  to  avoid  spilling,  and  per- 
fectly steady  while  waiting  for  them  to  take  what- 
ever they  desire.  No  matter  how  inattentive  a 
guest  may  be  the  waitress  never  speaks  when  on 
duty,  but  the  ever-watchful  hostess  says  politely, 
to  the  seemingly  unconscious  one,  as  the  maid 
waits,  "  Will  you  not  take — "  mentioning  at  the 
same  time  whatever  the  waitress  may  be  holding. 

Some  prefer  to  have  the  coffee  after  they  leave 
the  table.  In  that  case  it  is  taken  to  the  drawing 


184  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

room  when  all  have  assembled  there.  In  this 
each  mistress  suits  herself. 

No  one  should  rise  from  the  dinner  table  until 
the  hostess  makes  the  move  by  rising  herself. 
Emergencies  may  compel  a  transgression  of  this 
rule  of  good  table  manners.  The  person  obliged 
to  leave  should  ask  to  be  excused  and  go  as  quietly 
as  possible,  to  avoid  causing  a  distraction  or  a 
break  in  the  conversation.  Matters  of  etiquette 
and  what  is  called  good  form,  at  least  that  are 
maintained  for  a  long  time  and  not  the  caprice 
of  fashion,  are  usually  preservers  of  propriety  and 
conservers  of  the  general  comfort  of  people  in 
their  association  writh  each  other.  Whatever  does 
not  promote  the  general  comfort  of  a  family  and 
conduce  to  orderly  routine  and  agreeable  man- 
ners should  be  ignored  as  undesirable.  On  the 
other  hand,  whatever  prevents  awkwardness  or 
friction  of  any  sort  should  be  cultivated.  Good 
table  manners,  as  well  as  good  manners  every- 
where along  life's  road,  tend  to  refine  and  smooth 
what  is  otherwise  a  pretty  rough  way.  They 
make  all  serving  easier. 

In  training  a  new  maid  in  table-waiting  it  is 
wise  to  have  her  initial  steps  taken  at  some  of  the 
simpler  meals,  breakfast  or  luncheon.  Accustom 
her  to  the  dining  room  by  degrees,  if  you  would 


WAITING  ON  TABLE  185 

have  her  do  credit  to  her  instructor  and  herself, 
enjoy  being  taught  nice  ways,  and  further  be  per- 
fectly at  home  there  when  you  have  guests. 
Strangeness  always  causes  embarrassment. 
Everyone  knows  how  quickly  embarrassment 
or  anxiety  will  confuse  one  and  make  a  simple 
everyday  affair  go  wrong.  Awkward  service 
has  spoiled  many  a  hostess'  appetite  and  dissipated 
all  her  anticipated  pleasure  by  turning  the  dinner 
hour  into  a  period  of  torturing  suspense. 

Whoever  wants  a  meal  nicely  served,  even  by 
an  expert  waitress,  should  remember  that  she  can- 
not wait  upon  more  than  six  people  at  dinner 
without  apparent  haste.  Haste  always  detracts 
from  the  propriety  and  dignity  of  the  serving. 
A  good  waitress  is  swrift,  but  appears  in  no  hurry 
unless  too  much  is  expected  of  her. 


CHAPTER  FIFTEEN 


CHILDREN'S  PLACE  AND  RIGHTS  IN 
THEIR  OWN  HOME 


Two   obstreperous  children.      Children's   right    to   be    well    born. 

Defrauded  little  ones.    A  happy  child  with  a  firm  mother.    A 

children's  room.      Children's  money. 


8 


people  whom  I  once  knew 
had  two  obstreperous  children 
who  were  allowed  to  domi- 
neer over  everyone  in  the  house 
who  dared  not  resist  their 
tyranny.  A  naughty,  disagree- 
able little  girl  of  eight  years  could  order 
her  meals  as  she  pleased,  and  change  her  order 
several  times  during  the  hour  immediately  pre- 
ceding the  meal.  At  one  moment  she  thought 
that  she  would  have  it  upstairs  in  the  nursery, 
with  her  brother,  who  was  confined  to  the  house 
with  a  cold.  Then,  after  a  squabble  with  that 
brother,  she  rang  the  bell,  and  directed  the  ser- 
vant answering  it  to  tell  the  butler  that  she 
would  dine  downstairs  with  the  family.  As  her 
1  86 


CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS  187 

brother  was  her  only  playmate,  she  had  to  make 
up  with  him  very  soon ;  again  a  new  order  would 
go  to  the  pantry:  "  Miss  Dimple  would  have  her 
dinner  sent  up."  And  so  on  up  to  the  dinner 
hour.  In  the  absence  of  her  foolish  parents, 
someone,  who  was  left  in  charge  of  the  house, 
and,  incidentally,  of  those  little  imps  also, 
once  undertook  to  thwart  that  small  but  incor- 
rigible girl,  and  directed  that  her  last  order 
be  carried  out  just  as  she  was  giving  a  new 
one.  She  hung  over  the  stairway  listening  to 
a  colloquy  between  the  butler  and  two  others, 
and  heard  the  man  told  that  she  could  not  give 
so  many  orders,  whereupon  the  depraved  child 
flung  herself  face  downward  upon  the  stairway 
and  roared.  The  butler  was  so  scared  that  he 
declared  she  should  have  her  dinner  wherever  she 
pleased  to  order  it.  He  afterwards  remarked  he 
would  "  do  whatever  those  children  ordered,  for 
he  meant  to  keep  his  place."  Does  anyone  need 
to  be  informed  that  their  parents  were  entirely 
to  blame  ?  There  was  a  big  boy,  also,  in  the  same 
family,  who  now  and  then  had  a  difference  of 
opinion  with  his  father,  and  tried  to  settle  it  by 
force  of  arms,  not  fire-arms,  but  a  regular  fisti- 
cuff encounter.  The  first  and  only  time  that  I 
heard  or  knew  anything  about  these  doings,  I 


i88  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

was  puzzling  over  some  strange  sounds  that  I 
heard  in  the  hall  below  my  own  room ;  a  scuffling 
and  a  very  hard  breathing  led  me  to  ask  a  maid, 
who  had  been  longer  in  the  house  than  I,  what 
was  going  on  below.  This  was  her  answer: 
"  Oh,  it  is  Master  H.  trying  to  lick  his  father  ; 
he  often  does  that."  The  Heavenly  Twins  were 
crying  with  fright  in  the  nursery  that  opened 
into  that  hall.  I  afterwards  learned  that  the 
fracas  began  in  the  nursery.  I  also  observed 
that  the  doting  parent  and  his  eldest-born  did 
not  speak  for  a  couple  of  days.  They  made  up 
only -to  go  through  the  same  disgraceful  combat 
again  and  again.  To  the  maids  it  was  a  matter- 
of-course  periodical  performance.  The  wise 
father  said  to  one  who  remonstrated  with  him  re- 
garding the  little  girl's  disorderly  orders:  "  This 
is  my  children's  home,  and  they  shall  do  as  they 
please  in  it."  Fortunately  for  the  world  at  large, 
and  for  homes  generally,  there  are  not  many 
parents  quite  so*  insanely  indulgent  to  every  whim 
and  caprice  of  their  children.  Such  a  course  is 
positively  cruel  to  children  who  might  be  a  source 
of  interest  and  pleasure  to  friends  and  relatives 
and  also  to  the  domestics  in  their  homes,  but  who 
become  nuisances  wherever  they  go  because  of 
their  parents'  short-sighted  folly.  The  most  lam- 


CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS  189 

entable  results  come  into  the  poor  children's 
experiences,  because  they  grow  more  and  more 
unlovely,  until  their  nearest  relatives,  .sometimes 
even  their, parents,  are  glad  to  have  them  out  of 
their  sight.  Those  children's  parents  were  as 
weak  mentally  as  they  were  strong  financially. 
Their  children  could  have  been  easily  managed  by 
almost  any  firm  and  judicious  person  who  really 
desired  them  to  grow  up  useful  and  admirable 
characters.  They  were  not  specimens  of  the  doc- 
trine of  total  depravity ;  they  possessed,  and  occa- 
sionally evinced,  some  fine  traits,  but  they  were 
so  warped  by  their  parents'  over-indulgence  they 
grew  day  by  day  more  and  more  spoiled,  more 
and  more  troublesome,  and,  young  even  as 
they  were,  positively  brutal  at  times  in  their  con- 
duct to  everyone  of  whom  they  were  not  afraid. 
Those  numbered  in  the  last  class  were  few.  The 
wrorst  of  it  all  was  that  they  never  spoke  the 
truth  if  they  thought  a  falsehood  would  serve 
them  better.  They  wTere  the  only  children  that 
I  ever  came  in  contact  with  that  I  could  not 
even  like.  No  resident  governess  stayed  over  a 
week  in  the  house.  Two  came  within  three 
weeks,  an  interval  of  a  week  between  the  depar- 
ture of  the  first  and  the  arrival  of  the  second. 
Various  were  the  experiments  tried  for  educating 


HOUSE  AND  HOME 


them.  As  this  was  many  years  ago,  I  cannot  now 
say  with  what  results,  but  since  there  is  no 
royal  road  to  mental  culture  many  millions 
could  be  of  no  use  to  such  children  so  far  as  their 
education  was  concerned.  It  requires  very  little 
imagination  or  seer's  gift  to  foretell  the  general 
trend  of  their  unhappy  lives. 

Children,  as  a  rule,  have  a  keen,  natural  sense 
of  justice,  and  very  early  discern  between  right 
and  wrong.  They  are  prompt  to  discover  the 
difference  between  example  and  precept.  It  is 
very  little  use  to  tell  them  that  they  must  always 
speak  the  truth,  if  they  see  and  hear  their  elders 
doing  exactly  the  opposite.  They  follow  their 
seniors'  examples,  while  precepts  only  voiced  and 
not  instilled  in  the  conscience  by  corresponding 
examples,  go  in  one  ear  and  out  of  the  other, 
but  examples  are  powerful  beyond  all  words. 
Then,  too,  children  are  incisive  judges  of  consist- 
ency, The  little  nephew  of  a  friend  of  mine  was 
found  crying,  because,  as  he  explained,  his  father 
had  told  him  that  he  must  never  strike  a  boy 
smaller  than  himself  because  it  was  cowardly, 
"  but,"  said  the  little  fellow,  "  my  father  struck 
me,  and  he  is  a  man,  a  great  deal  bigger  than  I 
am.  I  was  a  naughty  boy,  I  struck  my  sister; 
but  my  father  was  a  very  naughty  man  when  ht 


CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS  191 

struck  me."  Ponder  that,  ye  parents,  who  quote: 
"  Spare  the  rod  and  spoil  the  child."  And  by 
the  way,  you  will  not  find  that  proverb  in  the 
Bible,  if  you  hunt  from  Genesis  to  Revelation. 
Parents  who  cannot  train  their  children  without 
resorting  to  brute  force  are  exactly  what  the 
little  boy  said  of  his  irate  father,  "  very  naughty." 
Blows  are  commonly  the  result  of  anger.  Angry 
people  are,  for  the  time  being,  insane — not  sane 
— off  poise — unbalanced,  and  then  entirely  unfit 
to  manage  children  because  they  cannot  control 
themselves.  The  children  that  get  whipped  are 
those  whose  parents  have  neglected  their  duty  to 
them,  and  let  them  become,  as  they  express  it, 
"  unmanageable."  Those  children  of  whom  I 
told  in  the  opening  of  this  chapter  sometimes  got 
severely  whipped,  and  their  screams  could  be 
heard  over  the  house.  Really,  the  ones  that 
deserved  punishment  were  their  parents.  And 
they  have  probably  been  getting  it  as  the  children 
grew  older.  The  rod  that  descends  upon  parents 
because  of  their  offspring's  misdeeds  is  the  hard- 
est, most  stinging  of  all,  for  it  cuts  the  very  heart. 
Children  have  rights  as  well  as  place  in  their 
own  homes.  Their  rights  should  be  held  sacred 
against  all  invasion.  The  first  right  of  all  chil- 
dren is  to  be  well  born,  and  that  means  thought- 


192  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

fully  planned  for  long  before  their  arrival.  They 
have  a  right  to  be  cordially  welcomed  and  joy- 
fully anticipated  by  both  parents.  When  this 
is  not  the  case  it  proves  cruel  wrong  done  by 
someone.  Another  right  of  which  children  are 
too  often  defrauded  by  their  own  parents  is  the 
right  to  good  constitutions.  No  amount  of 
money  can  ever  compensate  a  child  for  coming 
into  the  world  with  a  poor  body.  Life  on  this 
earth  is  of  little  worth  without  health  and 
strength  for  the  battle.  Our  strenuous  President 
to  the  contrary,  notwithstanding,  I  declare  that 
quality  is  of  more  value  to  our  country  than 
quantity.  And  a  large  family  without  health 
and  means  for  culture  is  a  tax  to  the  nation  and 
no  credit  to  the  parents.  It  is  absurd  to  brag  of 
the  number  of  your  children,  if  you  cannot  also 
point  to  their  usefulness  to  the  world,  because 
they  are  fitted  to  do  good  work  in  it.  The  place 
where  we  see  the  most  children  is  down  in  the 
slums  and  in  the  most  abjectly  wretched  portions 
of  the  city.  I  shall  never  forget  my  trip  to  the 
East  Side  of  New  York,  where  men,  women,  and 
children  are  huddled  too  closely  together  to  ob- 
serve any  of  the  decencies  of  life.  There  the 
pasty  faces  of  the  swarms  of  poor  little  children 
made  me  sick  at  heart.  The  recollection  is  like  a 


CHILDREN'S    RIGHTS  193 

nightmare  now,  as  I  think  of  it.  The  children 
over  there  have  been  defrauded  of  all  their  rights. 
They  know  not  what  it  is  to  be  children.  To 
them  childish  joys  and  childish  sorrows  are  alike 
unknown.  The  word  home  is  as  foreign  in  that 
quarter  as  are  home  pleasures.  It  had  been  better 
for  them  all  if  they  had  never  been  born;  better 
for  the  municipality,  and  better  for  the  credit  of 
this  nation. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  world  more  beautiful, 
engaging,  and  delightful  than  a  nice,  bright 
child  that  is  amenable  to  reason  and  prompt  in 
obedience  to  lawful  authority.  I  heard  a  little 
girl  say  to  a  playmate,  who  wanted  her  to  beg 
her  mother  to  let  her  do  something  that  she  had 
refused  once:  "  No,  I  shall  not  ask  again.  When 
mamma  says  no,  she  means  it,  and  I  know  there 
is  no  use  in  begging  her."  The  child  was  per- 
fectly cheerful  about  the  decision.  She  went 
on  to  say:  "If  mamma  says,  '  Well  now,  do 
you  think  you  had  better  ?  '  then  I  know  that 
there  is  some  chance  for  me  to  persuade  her."  I 
am  certain  that  I  never  knew  a  happier  child- 
life  than  that  little  girl  led.  And  I  am  also 
certain  that  she  never  had  a  whipping  in  all  her 
life,  nor  even  a  punishment.  A  child  has  confi- 
dence in  one  who  is  always  kind  and  always  firm. 


i94  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

When  children  begin  to  think  and  to  compare 
— and  they  do  this  very  early — then  is  the  time 
to  begin  to  teach  them  to  do  what  is  right,  be- 
cause it  is  right,  and  to  avoid  what  they  know  to 
be  wrong,  because  it  is  wrong.  This  cultivates 
individuality  and  a  sense  of  personal  responsi- 
bility, far  better  for  their  characters  than  obey- 
ing anyone's  rules  and  regulations  simply  because 
of  their  /relative  positions.  Children  taught  to 
govern  themselves  need  very  few  rules  laid  down 
for  them.  Theirs  is  not  eye  service,  because  they 
learn  instinctively  to  listen  for,  and  obey,  the 
monitor  that  is  within  them.  The  parent  who 
says  to  a  child,  "  Do  it  because  /  tell  you  to," 
makes  a  grave  mistake.  That  is  an  assumption 
of  authority  which  must,  in  the  very  nature  of 
things,  be  ephemeral,  or,  if  not,  so  much  the 
worse  for  both  parent  and  child,  for  it  makes  a 
tyrant  of  one  and  a  tool  of  the  other,  if  parental 
domination  continue  after  children  reach  mature 
years.  Every  child  born  into  the  world  is  an  in- 
dividualized entity,  physically  related  to  its  par- 
ents and  other  connections,  but  the  soul  using 
the  fleshly  organism  can  never  be  claimed  by 
any  human  being.  Ownership,  or  coercion  of,  a 
soul  is  impossible.  The  sooner  parents  realize 
this  the  better  for  fathers,  and  mothers,  and 


CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS  195 

children.  Then  the  desire  to  rule  will  be  super- 
seded by  a  much  higher  aim,  the  aim  to  develop 
all  that  is  finest  in  their  characters.  Very  young 
children  must  obey,  but  as  they  grow  older  it 
becomes  less  and  less  important  if  they  have  had 
good  examples  set  them  by  their  elders,  and  if 
they  have  been  taught  the  first  principles  of  living 
uprightly  and,  therefore,  fearlessly  and  frankly. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  quite  as  many  children 
have  been  spoiled  by  over-training  as  by  over-in- 
dulgence. If  parents  want  to  keep  their  children 
out  of  mischief  they  must  provide  suitable  occu- 
pation for  their  time.  The  happiest  and  best- 
mannered  children  that  I  have  known  were  those 
whose  days  were  mapped  out  for  them  even 
in  babyhood;  they  always  had  something  to  do, 
from  rising  until  bedtime,  and  life  was  never 
monotonous  to  them  because  they  had  constantly 
something  to  look  forward  to.  Lessons,  walks, 
and  recreation  filled  up  the  hours  between  their 
meal  times.  There  was  an  hour  for  each  and  all, 
and  the  times  were  strictly  adhered  to.  Play  did 
not  interfere  with  lessons,  and  lessons  never  inter- 
rupted the  play  time.  In  fact,  their  lives  were 
orderly.  A  little  chap  of  seven  would  sometimes 
say:  "  I  have  fifteen  minutes  to  spare;  will  you 
play  with  me,  Miss  C.?"  The  little  son  of  a 


196  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

friend  of  mine  used  to  weary  his  mother  asking 
her  what  he  should  do.  One  day  he  came  with 
his  usual  question,  and  she  said :  "  Why  don't 
you  go  around  and  see  grandpa  and  grandma?" 
"  Well,  if  I  do,"  said  the  boy,  "  I'll  just  kiss 
them  all  around,  and  then  there'll  be  nothing 
to  do." 

Children  love  to  feel  that  they  are  useful 
and  can  help  along.  They  like  to  work,  too,  if 
not  kept  too  long  at  one  thing.  In  households 
where  the  domestic  service  is  insufficient  to  ac- 
complish all  the  work  that  must  be  done,  chil- 
dren can  be  made  very  useful  without  wearying 
them.  Little  tiny  tots  can  be  taught  to  use  a 
dust-cloth  and  do  very  thorough  work  with  it. 
The  little  boy  that  sometimes  had  "  fifteen  min- 
utes to  spare  "  from  his  well-filled  day  thought  it 
was  great  fun  to  go  into  the  library,  when  the 
men  were  giving  the  books  a  thorough  dusting, 
and  with  a  cheese-cloth  duster  lend  a  hand.  It 
is  very  true  that  "  All  work  and  no  play  will 
make  Jack  a  dull  boy."  And  it  is  equally  true 
that  all  play,  no  work,  and  no  system  will  make 
a  bright  child  dull.  Worse  yet,  no  routine  and 
no  method  make  the  most  troublesome  and  insub- 
ordinate children.  But  some  parents  may  ob- 
ject: "We  are  too  busy  to  spend  so  much  time 


CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS  197 

and  thought  on  our  children's  occupations,  or  to 
lay  out  their  time  so  methodically,  filling  every 
waking  hour  with  something  special  for  them  to 
do.  We  have  other  and  very  important  things 
to  think  of  and  do."  There  is  but  one  answer 
to  such  objections.  Children  are  not  thrust  upon 
their  parents.  Their  upbringing  is  the  most  im- 
portant thing  in  their  parents'  and  their  own 
lives.  It  is  one  of  their  inalienable  rights  to  be 
well  brought  up.  And  no  child  is  well  brought 
up  that  is  not  taught  by  its  own  experience  very 
early  in  life  the  value  of  time  and  the  value  of 
money.  Just  so  soon  as  a  child  can  ask  for  a 
penny  to  spend,  it  should  have  an  allowance  and 
be  taught  to  use  a  portion  of  it  for  giving.  No 
matter  how  few,  if  the  child  ever  has  pennies 
given  it  by  its  parents  it  should  know  just  how 
many  pennies  it  can  have  a  month.  They  should 
be  given  on  a  certain  regular  date  and  at  no  other 
time.  Children  should  be  taught  to  keep  an  ac- 
count of  every  penny  spent  and  also  taught  to  try 
to  improve  the  wray  of  spending  by  remembering 
what  gave  the  most  satisfaction  in  the  past,  but 
nobody  should  insist  upon  telling  them  how  to 
spend  their  own  money.  This  is  another  of  their 
rights.  A  friend  of  mine  gave  a  five-dollar  gold 
piece  to  her  little  granddaughter  when  she  was 


198  HOUSE   AND   HOME 

on  a  visit  to  the  child's  parents.  The  little  girl's 
mother  immediately  conceived  the  idea  of  spend- 
ing the  money  for  the  child,  that  is,  she  wanted  to 
dictate  to  her  what  she  should  buy  with  it.  The 
little  girl  had  made  up  her  mind  that  she  would 
give  half  of  it  to  her  brother,  and  spend  the  other 
half  herself.  She  felt  that  it  was  her  personal 
property,  to  do  with  as  she  pleased.  So  the 
mother  said  to  the  grandmother:  "  I  do  wish 
that  you  would  use  your  influence  with  Gladys 
and  induce  her  to  spend  that  five  dollars  the 
way  that  I  want  her  to."  The  grandmother  did 
not  feel  like  complying;  she  thought  it  indelicate, 
after  making  a  present  to  the  child,  to  meddle 
with  her  plans  for  disposing  of  it,  but  she  was 
averse  to  refusing  the  mother's  request,  and  there- 
fore, when  next  they  met,  she  said:  "Gladys, 
what  are  you  going  to  do  with  that  five  dollars 
that  I  gave  you?  "  The  child  told  her  just  what 
she  had  told  her  mother.  Then  the  grandmother 
reluctantly  said :  "  Don't  you  think  that  you  had 
better  spend  it  the  way  your  mother  wants  you 
to?  "  Putting  her  hand  in  her  pocket,  and  pro- 
ducing the  gold  piece,  the  child  handed  it  to  her 
grandmother,  saying:  "Take  it,  grandma,  I 
don't  want  it."  The  grandmother  told  me  that 
she  felt  very  mean  and  wished  that  she  had  let 


CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS  199 

her  granddaughter   alone  to   do  as  she  pleased 
with  the  present. 

Another  friend  told  me  of  a  little  boy  that  she 
knew  who  had  twenty-five  cents  given  to  him. 
Of  course,  he  began  to  spend  it  mentally  without 
delay.  When  he  told  his  mother  that  he  intended 
to  buy  a  kite  with  his  money,  she  said :  "  Oh,  I 
wouldn't  spend  it  for  that!  "  So  he  gave  the 
kite  up.  A  little  while  after  he  told  his  father 
that  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  buy  a  top.  And 
forthwith  his  father  remarked :  "  Oh,  don't  spend 
it  for  a  top!  "  And  he  did  not.  When  out  walk- 
ing with  his  auntie  he  saw  something  in  a  store 
window  marked  twenty-five  cents.  He  wanted 
it,  and  he  had  the  money  for  it.  So  he  said  to 
his  aunt,  "  I  think  I'll  go  into  that  store  and  buy 
that  ball."  But  his  auntie  exclaimed :  "  Oh,  I 
wouldn't  spend  twenty-five  cents  for  that!" 
The  youngster  walked  on;  then  he  asked  Jiis 
aunt  these  questions :  "  Auntie,  is  this  twenty-five 
cents  my  mother's  money?"  "  No,"  said  she. 
"  Is  it  my  father's?  "  "  No."  "  Is  it  yours?  " 
"  Why,  no,  of  course  not."  "  Is  it  my  twenty- 
five  cents?  "  "  Certainly,  it  is  yours."  "  Well, 

then,  d the  twenty-five  cents,"  said  the  boy; 

"I'm  going  to  throw  it  over  into  that  open  lot." 
And  he  suited  the  action  to  his  declaration,  and 


200  HOUSE  AND   HOME 

sent  the  silver  coin  spinning  over  into  the  lot 
that  they  were  passing.  Of  course,  no  one  ap- 
proves of  his  expletive,  but  he  probably  had  heard 
it  from  his  father;  children  do  not  invent  those 
words. 

These  two  authentic  anecdotes  show  the  folly 
of  interfering  with  children's  rights.  In  each 
case  the  elders  lost  the  respect  of  the  children. 
And  in  each  case  likewise  it  gave  the  children  a 
sense  of  contempt  for  those  who  should  above  all 
have  won  their  respect,  by  deserving  it.  Children 
wThose  rights  are  scrupulously  regarded  will  nat- 
urally learn  to  respect  the  rights  of  others. 
There  is  nothing  in  families,  between  neighbors, 
and  between  nations,  that  causes  so  much  dis- 
cord as  meddling  with  the  rights  of  others. 

Homes  where  there  are  children  ought  to  be 
brighter  and  happier  than  those  unblessed  by 
their  presence.  When  this  is  not  the  case  it 
proves  that  there  has  been  great  negligence  on 
the  part  of  those  directly  responsible  for  the  in- 
fluences and  examples  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
children  at  the  most  impressionable  age.  Rude 
and  troublesome  children  are  the  cause  of  con- 
fusion, destruction,  and  unhappiness  wherever 
they  go.  But  the  cause  back  of  all  their  mis- 
conduct is  traceable  to  those  who  have  had  the 


CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS  201 

first  opportunity  for,  and  who  have  failed  sig- 
nally in,  doing  their  duty  by  them. 

Why  do  so  many  proprietors  of  apartment 
houses  and  flats  bar  out  people  with  children? 
Is  it  the  fault  of  the  little  ones  that  they  do  so 
much  mischief  and  are  so  insubordinate  and  un- 
mannerly that  no  one  wants  them  about  their 
premises?  In  Japan  the  children  never  damage 
beautiful  things  that  stand  outside  of  the  houses. 
In  Germany  they  do  not  need  rules  to  keep  the 
parks  decent.  They  are  taught  better  than  to 
deface  and  destroy  everything  that  they  touch. 
There  is  no  reason  at  all  why  children  should  be 
nuisances  to  all  except  their  own  immediate  rela- 
tives. All  children  are  not  so.  The  approach 
of  some  little  ones  is  a  delight  to  those  who  know 
them.  For,  unquestionably,  as  the  most  engag- 
ing, charming  object  in  the  world  is  a  nice,  bright 
child  with  good  manners,  so  the  most  unfor- 
tunate object  in  the  world  is  an  unlovely  child 
that  people  generally  avoid. 

Children  have  a  right  to  live  the  life  of  chil- 
dren. In  their  home  they  ought  to  have,  if  pos- 
sible, at  least  one  room  where  they  can  have  the 
utmost  freedom  consistent  with  health  and  safety. 
In  that  room  there  should  be  nothing  that  re- 
quires special  care.  There  they  should  keep 


202  HOUSE   AND   HOME 

their  playthings.  And  there  they  ought  to  be 
taught  to  leave  everything  when  they  are  done 
playing.  It  is  a  great  mistake  not  to  make  them 
learn  habits  of  order — a  place  for  everything, 
and  everything  in  its  place  when  not  in  use. 
They  soon  discover  the  advantage  of  knowing 
where  to  find  their  belongings  instead  of  leaving 
their  toys  anywhere,  just  as  they  may  happen 
to  drop  them.  In  the  playroom  children  should 
have  corners  or  particular  spots  especially  their 
own,  and  there  they  can  begin  to  learn  the  dif- 
ference between  what  is  theirs  and  what  is  not. 
(Brothers  and  sisters  do  considerable  gratuitous 
training  of  one  another.)  Of  course,  some  are 
naturally  more  orderly  than  others,  but  the  fact 
that  every  child  as  soon  as  it  goes  to  school  learns 
immediately  to  use  its  own  desk,  carry  its  own 
books,  and  occupy  the  place  assigned  to  it,  proves 
that  it  could  do  as  much  in  its  own  home, 
if  also  taught  there.  The  greatest  obstacle  to 
children's  training  seems  to  be  the  indolence  of 
their  parents,  or  their  weak  fondness  for  them 
that  makes  them  so  short-sighted  regarding  the 
real  happiness  of  their  little  ones. 

There  is  one  thing  that  should  be  unstinted  in 
dealing  with  children,  and  that  is  praise  for  all 
the  good  that  they  do,  and  warm  appreciation  of 


CHILDREN'S    RIGHTS  203 

their  efforts  to  do  right.  And  no  one  should 
ever  say  to  any  child,  "  You  are  bad."  That  is 
the  way  to  cultivate  just  what  you  do  not  want 
to  see  in  them.  Let  them  know  that  you  expect 
the  best  and  are  surprised  when  they  fail  to  ful- 
fill your  expectations.  Then  they  will  be  much 
more  likely  to  try  to  live  up  to  the  ideal  that 
they  know  you  hold  for  them. 

Above  all,  let  there  be  nothing  artificial  in 
the  children's  lives.  Charles  Wagner  has  put 
it  so  well  that  before  closing  this  chapter  I  give 
his  own  words:  "  Falsehood  is  the  vice  of  a  slave, 
the  refuge  of  the  cowardly  and  the  weak.  He 
who  is  free  is  strong  and  unflinching  in  speech. 
We  should  encourage  in  our  children  the  hardi- 
hood to  speak  frankly.  What  do  wre  ordinarily 
do?  We  trample  on  natural  disposition,  level  it 
down  to»  the  uniformity  which,  for  the  crowd, 
is  synonymous  with  good  form.  To  think  with 
one's  own  mind,  feel  with  one's  own  heart,  ex- 
press one's  own  personality — how  unconven- 
tional, how  rustic!  Oh,  the  atrocity  of  an  edu- 
cation which  consists  in  the  perpetual  muzzling 
of  the  only  thing  that  gives  any  of  us  his  reason 
for  being!  Of  how  many  soul  murders  do  we 
become  guilty!  Some  are  struck  down  with 
bludgeons,  others  gently  smothered  with  pillows ! 


204  HOUSE  AND   HOME 

Everything  conspires  against  independence  of 
character.  When  we  are  little,  people  wish  us 
to  be  dolls  or  graven  images;  when  we  grow  up 
they  approve  of  us  on  condition  that  we  are  like 
all  the  rest  of  the  world :  when  you  have  seen 
one  of  them  you  have  seen  them  all.  Truth 
can  free  us  from  this  bondage:  let  our  children 
be  taught  to  be  themselves,  to  ring  clear,  without 
crack  or  muffle.  Make  loyalty  a  need  in  them, 
and  in  their  gravest  failures,  if  only  they  ac- 
knowledge them,  count  it  for  merit  that  they 
have  not  covered  their  sin. 

"To  frankness  let  us  add  ingenuousness,  in  our 
solicitude  as  educators.  We  must  not  frighten  it 
away:  when  it  has  once  fled  it  so  rarely  comes 
back.  Ingenuousness  is  not  simply  the  sister  of 
truth,  the  guardian  of  the  individual  qualities  of 
each  one  of  us ;  it  is  besides  a  great  informing  and 
educating  force.  I  see  among  us  too  many  pi  acti- 
cal  people,  so  called,  who  go  about  armed  with 
terrifying  spectacles  and  huge  shears  to  ferret  out 
naive  things  and  clip  their  wings.  They  uproot 
ingenuousness  from  life,  from  thought,  from  edu- 
cation, and  pursue  it  even  to  the  region  of 
dreams.  Under  pretext  of  making  men  of  their 
children,  they  prevent  their  being  children  at  all; 
as  if,  before  the  ripe  fruit  of  autumn,  flowers  did 


CHILDREN'S    RIGHTS  205 

not  have  to  be,  and  perfumes,  and  songs  of  birds, 
and  all  the  fairy  springtime. 

"I  ask  indulgence  for  everything  naive  and 
simple,  not  alone  for  the  innocent  conceits  that 
flutter  round  the  curly  heads  of  children,  but  also 
for  the  legend,  the  folk  song,  the  tales  of  the 
world  of  marvel  and  mystery.  The  sense  of  the 
marvelous  is  in  the  child,  the  first  form  of  that 
sense  of  the  infinite  without  which  a  man  is  like 
a  bird  deprived  of  wings.  Let  us  not  wean  the 
child  from  it,  but  let  us  guard  in  him  the  faculty 
of  rising  above  what  is  earthy,  so  that  he  may 
appreciate  later  on  -those  pure  and  moving  sym- 
bols of  vanished  ages  wherein  human  truth  has 
found  forms  of  expression  that  our  arid  logic 
will  never  replace." 

It  is,  indeed,  too  true  that  some  of  the  elders 
endeavor  to  muzzle  a  child's  thoughts,  and  muffle 
all  its  ingenuousness.  Instead  of  teaching  the 
child  to  think  and  govern  its  own  thoughts  they 
try  to  suppress  thought  in  the  child  and  tell  it 
what  to  think  and  what  not  to  think.  Without 
accomplishing  what  they  try  to  do,  they  never- 
theless do  incalculable  mischief  that  takes  a  life- 
time for  the  child  to  outgrow.  Some  children  are 
too  independent  to  allow  anyone  to  assume  do- 
minion over  their  thought.  They  are  like  the 


206  HOUSE   AND    HOME 

little  girl  who  was  told  by  her  mother,  her  aunt, 
and  her  grandmother,  successively,  that  she  must 
not  express  an  uncomplimentary  opinion  that  she 
had  formed  about  one  of  her  mother's  callers. 
11  Well,"  at  last  said  the  child,  "  I  think  so." 
"  But  you  must  not  think  so,"  commanded  her 
elders.  "  You  can  boss  my  talk,  but  you  cannot 
boss  my  think,"  replied  the  little  girl.  And  she 
was  right. 


U  CHAPTER  SIXTEEN* 


HOME  NURSING 


Persons  acceptable  to  the  sick.      Neglected  colds.      Value  of  good 

home    nursing.      Temperature.      Pulse.      Respiration.      The 

clinical  thermometer.      Taking  the  pulse.      Respiration. 


persons  seem  to  have  a  genius 
for  nursing  and  are  never  so  happy 
as  when  ministering  to  the  sick. 
They  know  intuitively,  much— 
that  others  learn  only  by  careful 
_  training  —  about  ways  of  making  an 

invalid  as  comfortable  as  possible.  But  how- 
ever natural  one's  aptitude  in  caring  for  the  sick, 
there  are  always  improved  methods  and  new  in- 
ventions, for  ameliorating  a  patient's  suffering, 
to  be  learned  of,  especially  from  those  who  make 
nursing  a  profession.  It  sometimes  happens  that 
one  who  most  dearly  loves  the  sick  person  is  less 

*  These  chapters  are  largely  composed  of  extracts  from  Miss 
Eveleen  Harrison's  valuable  little  book  on  "  Home  Nursing." 
All  readers  interested  in  the  subject  are  referred  to  that  book  foi 
fuller  information  upon  the  subject. 


208  HOUSE   AND   HOME 

acceptable  as  nurse  than  a  stranger  who  under- 
stands better  what  is  wanted  to  make  the  sufferer 
comfortable.  We  cannot  all  of  us  be  trained 
nurses,  but  all  who  desire  to  do  so  can  easily  be- 
come acquainted  with  much  that  is  practical,  and 
with  part  of  the  curriculum  of  the  course  of  one 
who  is  training  for  the  profession. 

Before  taking  up  the  subject  it  may  be  well  to 
say  a  few  prefatory  words  upon  the  wisdom  of 
using  preventive  measures  to  ward  off  a 
threatened  illness.  In  the  majority  of  cases  this 
could  be  done  by  taking  that  ounce  of  prevention 
which  so  many  neglect  until  it  is  too  late.  The 
already  quoted  proverb:  "Joy  and  temperance 
and  repose  slam  the  door  on  the  doctor's  nose,"  is 
again  pertinent.  Joy,  temperance,  repose,  all  three, 
are  health-giving  and  health-conserving,  but  here 
it  is  purposed  to  lay  stress  upon  the  incalculable 
importance  first,  of  temperance;  next,  of  proper 
and  timely  rest.  By  giving  up  and  going  quietly 
to  bed  for  a  day  or  two,  or  even  for  only  a  few 
hours  sometimes,  one  may  avoid  what,  without 
that  little  precaution,  might  prove  a  serious  and 
long  attack,  with  its  retinue  of  aches  and  pains, 
drugs,  and  doctors  unwelcome  bills — cure  or  no 
cure.  They  are  as  certain  to  be  called  for  as 
taxes. 


HOME    NURSING  209 

It  is  especially  true  with  regard  to  colds  in 
their  early  stages  simply  by  rest,  warmth,  and  a 
good,  long  sleep,  they  can  be  sent  speedily  to  the 
realm  of  nothingness,  for  there  is  no  storage 
place  outside  the  human  organism  for  the  preser- 
vation of  aches  or  any  fleshly  ills,  past,  present,  or 
future. 

Neglected  colds  lead  to  all  sorts  of  suffering 
and  to  almost  every  known  ailment,  if  in  no  other 
way  by  depleting  the  system  and  getting  it  in  a 
receptive  condition  to  fall  an  easy  prey  to  dis-ease. 
Therefore  it  is  well  to  realize  the  vital  impor- 
tance of  getting  quickly  rid  of  a  cold  while  it  is 
in  the  incipient  stage  and  easy  to  conquer,  instead 
of  permitting  it  to  progress  and  develop  into  some 
serious  indisposition.  A  good,  long  sleep  in  a 
warm,  but  thoroughly  ventilated,  room  has  often 
proved  both  a  tonic  and  a  cure.  To  break  up  a 
cold  it  is  alt-important  that  the  ailing  one  should 
rest  quietly  for  hours,  letting  the  vital  forces 
take  absolute  possession  of  the  citadel  of  being 
and  control  the  situation. 

Good  home  nursing  given  in  season  is  of  great 
value  in  every  family,  because  it  immediately 
checks  and  promptly  conquers  a  threatened  ill- 
ness. But  inexperienced  or  untrained  people 
seldom  nurse  wisely.  In  the  case  of  colds,  and 


210  HOUSE   AND   HOME 

in  many  other  cases  also,  good  nursing  is  shown 
by  such  a  wise  adjustment  of  conditions  and  en- 
vironment that  Nature  is  given  every  oppor- 
tunity to  restore  the  lost  balance  without  delay, 
or  drugs. 

It  is  impossible  to  overestimate  the  power  of 
our  natural  forces,  when  they  are  encouraged 
and  given  full  sway,  or  their  imperative  claim 
to  entire  dominion  while  they  are  contending 
with  abnormal  conditions  that  we  have  brought 
upon  ourselves  by  lack  of  poise.  Henry  Wood 
says:  "  Pain  is  friendly."  Assuredly  it  is  so, 
because  it  admonishes  and  calls  a  halt  from  some 
sort  of  intemperance. 

Reckless  people  need  to  be  reminded  that  the 
sin  of  intemperance  is  not  confined  to  drunkards 
or  liquor-drinking.  There  is  more  intemperance 
in  eating  than  in  drinking.  Still  more  in  pleasure- 
seeking  of  all  sorts.  Intemperance  in  business 
pursuits  is  one  of  the  crying  sins  of  this  day. 
There  is  intemperance  in  work  of  all  sorts — in- 
temperance in  study  and  intellectual  culture,  in- 
temperance in  religion  and  in  charitable  work. 
True,  the  last  two  are  not  as  ominous  or  as  wide- 
spread as  any  of  the  others.  But  the  point  is 
that  any  intemperance  is  sure  sooner  or  later  to 
cause  pain,  disease,  weakness,  and  these  announce 


HOME    NURSING  211 

emphatically  to  the  sufferer  that  dis-order  is 
reigning  within  because  it  has  been  allowed  to 
usurp  the  place  of  order.  Pain  is  caused  by  the 
contention  for  supremacy  between  natural,  there- 
fore divine,  order  and  that  which  is  abnormal, 
consequently  unfit  to  continue.  The  battle  be- 
tween the  normal  and  the  abnormal  always 
causes  pain.  It  is  said  by  those  who  make  a 
study  of  disease  that  often  dangerous  conditions 
exist  before  pain  announces  the  battle  on. 

If  these  are  facts,  then  we  may  realize  the 
great  importance  of  siding  with  the  lawful  health- 
restoring — therefore  natural — forces,  instead  of 
thwarting  their  beneficent  efforts  for  restoration 
by  our  continued  intemperance.  Frequently  ab- 
solute rest  is  the  first  condition  that  must  be 
yielded  to  by  the  one  who  is  out  of  order.  That 
little  phrase  is  most  expressive. 

There  are  very  few  people,  no  matter  what 
their  station  in  life,  who  do  not  find  themselves 
at  some  time  so  situated  that  they  would  be  very 
glad  to  know  some  of  the  first  principles  of  good 
nursing.  Moreover  there  are  a  great»many  who 
find  the  cost  of  a  trained  nurse  a  heavy  tax  upon 
a  limited  purse.  And  all  would  like  to  be  able 
to  judge  of  the  competency  of  one  coming  in 
as  a  total  stranger  to  take  charge  of  their  dear 


212  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

ones.  For  these  and  many  other  reasons  a  book 
with  the  title  "  House  and  Home "  should 
throw  some  light  on  the  subject  of  home  nursing 
and  point  the  way  for  those  who  would  gladly 
avail  themselves  of  every  valuable  hint  leading 
to  further  knowledge. 

In  cases  of  severe  or  protracted  illness  the 
services  of  a  capable  nurse  count  for  more  than 
the  doctor's  visits.  Good  nursing  without  any 
doctor  is  more  desirable  than  a  doctor  in  regular 
attendance  with  a  poor  nurse  or  none  at  all. 

The  patient  depends  upon  the  nurse  for  clean- 
liness, pure  air,  proper  nourishment,  and  almost 
every  comfort.  These  all  go  a  long  way  towards 
promoting  the  sufferer's  ease  and  restoring 
health. 

In  what  are  considered  chronic  cases  the  nurse 
is  really  the  all-important  factor  in  an  invalid's 
room.  No  matter  how,  when,  or  where  the 
nurse  gains  experience  and  becomes  skilled  in 
caring  for  the  sick,  every  family  should  have  one 
or  more  who  do  know  what  ought  to  be  done 
and  what  ought  to  be  avoided  in  the  room 
of  an  invalid.  The  requisite  knowledge  is  now 
broadcast  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of 
the  land  so  that  he  who  runs  may  read.  Hardly 
any  family  is  there  without  at  least  one,  if  not 


HOME    NURSING  213 

more  than  one,  trained  nurse  amongst  its  relatives 
or  connections.  The  writer  had  two  nieces  who 
trained  to  be  professional  nurses.  Both  after- 
wards married  and  went  to  their  new  duties  well 
equipped  for  the  responsibilities  and  cares  of  a 
family.  Before  the  younger  one  married  she 
was  so  much  in  demand  amongst  her  own  rela- 
tives that  a  young  married  woman  of  the  family 
proposed  that  the  relatives  should  "  charter 
her  "  and  retain  her  services  for  themselves,  be- 
cause it  was  alwrays  such  a  disappointment  if, 
when  they  wanted  her,  she  happened  to  be  en- 
gaged on  an  outside  case. 

A  paid  trained  nurse  in  constant  attendance 
upon  one  family  is  strictly  the  rich  man's  luxury. 
Even  a  nurse  chartered  by  several  relatives  might 
be  needed  in  more  than  one  family  at  once. 
After  all,  there  is  nothing  so  valuable  as  personal 
knowledge.  It  generates  courage  and  independ- 
ence that  money  can  never  buy.  Everyone  ought 
to  make  it  a  business  to  learn  as  much  as  possible 
about  a  trained  nurse's  duties  and  be  able,  if 
necessary,  to  do  without  a  professional  nurse  in 
all  ordinary  cases.  The  following  hints  and 
directions  will  be  found  useful  to  all  those  who 
desire  to  inform  themselves  about  the  chief  points 
that  necessarily  should  be  observed  by  one  who 


214  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

is  caring  for  an  invalid,  or  who  has  the  charge 
of  a  case  of  temporary  indisposition : 

TEMPERATURE  AND  THE    USE  OF  THE  CLINICAL 
THERMOMETER 

"  The  normal  temperature  of  the  body  is  98.4° 
F.  The  normal  pulse  is  72  beats  to  the  minute. 
The  respiration  is  18  breaths  to  the  minute." 

Temperature,  respiration,  and  pulse,  these 
three,  give  trustworthy  testimony  regarding  the 
condition  of  the  human  organism  at  all  times. 

When  any  part  of  the  system  is  out  of  order 
the  temperature  immediately  registers  the  fact. 
A  degree  above  or  below  the  normal  mark,  unless 
induced  by  some  immediate  mental  cause, 
such  as  fright  or  temporary  excitement,  is  an 
alarm  signal  that  cannot  be  ignored  with  im- 
punity. It  is  a  proof  that  the  fight  has  be- 
gun between  the  true  and  the  false,  between 
right  and  wrong,  between  what  is  natural  and 
what  is  unnatural.  Everything  depends  upon 
which  side  the  sufferer  really  works  with. 

11  A  rise  in  the  temperature,  or  an  increase  of 
pulse  and  respiration  in  a  child,  is  not  as  impor- 
tant as  in  an  adult.  Children,  as  a  rule,  have  a 
higher  normal  mark  than  adults.  Women  are 
apt  to  have  a  slightly  higher  temperature  than 


HOME    NURSING  215 

men."  Individual  temperament  influences,  and 
there  is  apt  to  be  a  slight  variation  above  or  below 
the  average  according  to  whether  one  is  an  easy- 
going, placid  person  or  of  a  nervous,  excitable 
disposition.  For  this  reason  it  is  important  for 
the  nurse  to  know  each  individual's  normal  tem- 
perature and  pulse.  Without  this  knowledge 
one  might  mistake  a  normal  for  an  abnormal 
condition. 

"  Before  using  a  clinical  thermometer  shake  it 
carefully  (holding  the  bulb  end  downwards) 
until  the  mercury  falls  below  the  mark  97 ;  then 
insert  the  bulb  end  in  your  patient's  mouth,  well 
under  the  tongue,  make  him  close  the  lips  firmly, 
so  that  no  air  will  enter,  and  leave  it  there  for  a 
full  three  minutes.  Unless  the  lips  are  kept 
tightly  closed  all  the  time  you  will  not  get  the 
true  temperature  of  the  body.  At  the  end  of 
three  minutes  remove  the  thermometer  and  note 
carefully  the  exact  number  where  the  mercury 
stands  on  the  thermometer. 

"  Before  using  the  thermometer  invariably 
wash  it  in  cold  water.  After  you  have  finished 
also  invariably  dip  it  in  alcohol  or  some  disin- 
fectant solution,  to  keep  it  clean  and  to  guard 
against  infection. 

"  In   fever  cases   the   thermometer  should  be 


216  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

kept  standing  in  alcohol — a  piece  of  soft  cotton 
in  the  bottom  of  the  glass  to  prevent  breaking  it. 
Always,  before  inserting  it  in  the  mouth,  it 
should  be  rinsed  off  in  cold  water. 

"  The  temperature  of  our  bodies  varies  at  dif- 
ferent hours  of  the  day.  It  is  always  higher  in 
the  afternoon  than  in  the  morning.  Its  highest 
point  is  usually  between  4  and  6  P.  M.  Its  lowest 
point  is  between  2  and  4  A.  M. 

"  Take  your  patient's  temperature  as  nearly  as 
possible  at  the  same  hour  of  the  morning  and 
evening.  Only  by  observing  this  rule  will  you  be 
able  to  keep  an  accurate  record  of  the  changes 
of  temperature. 

"  A  half  an  hour  at  least  should  elapse  after 
meals  before  the  temperature  is  taken,  because 
stimulating  meats  and  drinks  tend  to  elevate  the 
temperature  for  a  while. 

"  For  twenty  minutes  before  using  the  ther- 
mometer by  mouth  the  patient  should  not  have 
a  hot  or  cold  drink,  or  any  ice;  any  of  these 
would  prevent  your  getting  the  exact  temper- 
ature. 

"  Temperature  by  the  rectum  always  registers 
about  half  a  degree  higher  than  when  taken  by 
the  mouth. 

"  With    children    who    will    not    keep    their 


HOME    NURSING  217 

mouths  firmly  closed  for  three  minutes,  with  de- 
lirious or  unconscious  adults,  and  in  typhoid- 
fever  cases  the  rectal  temperature  is  more 
accurate. 

"  In  taking  rectal  temperature,  after  shaking 
the  mercury  far  below  97°,  cover  the  bulb  with 
olive  oil  or  vaselin,  and  with  the  patient  lying 
on  the  left  side,  insert  the  thermometer  about  an 
inch  and  a  half  into  the  rectum.  Hold  it  there 
three  minutes. 

"  In  the  case  of  a  child  amuse  it  or  distract  its 
attention  to  prevent  its  crying,  as  that  would 
elevate  the  temperature." 

The  clinical  thermometer  is  a  very  useful  little 
implement,  but  overanxious  people  are  prone  to 
use  it  too  much.  It  is  possible  to  cause  or  to 
prolong  illness  by  too  much  devotion  to  that 
small  instrument.  Avoid  subservience  to  any- 
thing, however  useful  it  may  be  when  serving  its 
legitimate  purpose. 

TAKING    THE     PULSE.       SEVENTY-TWO    BEATS    TO 
THE     MINUTE     NORMAL 

"  The  pulse  is  counted  by  placing  the  first  and 
second  finger  of  one  hand  lightly  on  the  inside 
ot  your  patient's  wrist.  After  pressing  gently, 
but  firmly,  you  will  feel  in  a  few  seconds  the 


218  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

steady  beat  of  the  pulse.  Time  the  beat  by  the 
watch.  Count  by  the  half  minute  and  double 
the  result,  or  count  for  a  full  minute.  It  is  al- 
ways best  to  take  the  pulse  twice  in  succession 
to  be  sure  of  making  no  mistake.  Sometimes, 
when  the  patient  is  asleep,  the  pulse  may  be 
counted  in  the  temple  better  than  in  the  wrist." 

"  In  nervous  and  excitable  people  the  pulse 
sometimes  varies  according  to  their  feelings."  A 
capable  nurse  understands  temperaments  as  well 
as  temperatures.  "  When  the  temperature  and 
the  pulse  rise  at  the  same  time  and  do  not  subside 
in  a  couple  of  hours,  it  is  almost  certain  that 
there  is  trouble  somewhere  that  may  not  safely 
be  ignored." 

RESPIRATION.          EIGHTEEN      BREATHS     TO     THE 
MINUTE    NORMAL 

"  Count  the  respiration  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  patient.  If  conscious  that  you  are  watch- 
ing it  will  be  impossible  for  him  to  breathe 
naturally. 

"  If  not  distinct  during  sleep,  you  can  easily 
feel  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  chest  by  placing  your 
hand  upon  it.  Respiration  belowr  twelve  or 
above  thirty  to  the  minute  is  a  danger  signal  that 
should  be  watched." 


HOME    NURSING  219 

"The  temperature,  pulse,  and  respiration  taken 
with  the  patient  in  a  recumbent  restful  position 
will  be  more  accurate  than  if  standing  or  sitting. 

"  During  sleep  the  pulse  is  a  little  slower  than 
when  one  is  awake.  This  should  be  borne  in 
mind  when  taking  the  pulse." 


CHAPTER   SEVENTEEN 


HOME   NURSING  (continued). 


The  bed.      Pillows.      Sheets.      Rubber  sheet.      Light-weight  bed- 
spread.     Clothing  freshly  aired.      Sunlight  the  healer  and  puri- 
fier.     Temperature.      Ventilation.      Perfect  cleanliness. 


HE  first  thing  to  be  considered 
is  the  bed.  A  firm  hair  mat- 
tress should  always  be  used, 
with  a  thin  blanket  or  covering 
of  some  kind  under  the  lower 
sheet.  After  long  service  all 
mattresses  are  inclined  to  sink  in  the  middle  and 
become  very  uncomfortable  to  lie  upon  for  any 
length  of  time.  A  blanket  folded  lengthwise 
and  place  under  the  mattress,  in  the  middle  of 
the  bed,  or  two  flat  pillows,  will  overcome  this 
difficulty.  When  there  is  much  fever  a  hair 
pillow  will  be  found,  though  harder,  much 
cooler  than  a  feather  one.  A  number  of 
small  pillows  of  all  shapes  and  sizes,  espe- 
cially during  long  cases  of  illness,  will  prove  of 
the  greatest  comfort.  You  can  tuck  them  in  odd 


HOME    NURSING  221 

corners,  under  the  back  and  shoulders  as  a  help 
to  keep  up  the  knees  and  thus  take  all  the  strain 
from  the  back.  They  form  comfortable  resting 
places  for  injured  limbs,  and  support  the  weight 
of  the  clothes  from  sensitive  parts  of  the  body. 
Small  pillows  made  of  cotton  or  wool,  covered 
with  cheese-cloth  or  old  linen,  answer  the  purpose 
quite  as  well  as  more  expensive  ones  of  feathers 
or  down. 

"  It  is  much  wiser  to  use  cotton  sheets  in  sick- 
ness instead  of  linen,  unless  in  summer  time,  as 
linen  is  chilly  and  uncomfortable  to  a  delicate 
person. 

"  Three  sheets  are  required  in  making  the  bed, 
also  a  piece  of  rubber  sheeting,  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  yard  wide,  to  be  used  under  the 
draw  sheet.  Where  there  is  no  danger  of  the 
patient  soiling  the  mattress,  the  rubber  sheeting 
may  be  dispensed  with,  as  it  causes  unnecessary 
perspiration,  and  if  it  wrinkles  under  the  patient 
may  even  lead  to  bed-sores. 

"  To  arrange  a  bed  for  a  sick  person  so  that  it 
will  be  thoroughly  comfortable  and  free  from 
wrinkles,  the  under  sheet  must  be  drawn  very 
smoothly  and  well  tucked  in.  If  your  patient  is 
heavy  or  inclined  to  restlessness,  you  will  find  it 
of  great  advantage  to  pin  the  under  sheet  at  the 


222  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

four  corners  with  safety  pins.  Over  the  under 
sheet  and  across  the  middle  of  the  bed,  lay  the 
rubber  sheet,  pin  it  at  the  corners  and  cover  with 
the  draw  sheet,  which  is  a  small  sheet  folded  to 
the  width  of  the  rubber  and  tucked  firmly  over 
it  on  both  sides  of  the  bed.  The  advantage  of 
the  draw  sheet  is  that  it  may  be  changed  as  often 
as  may  be  required  without  disturbing  the  pa- 
tient, and  it  serves  to  keep  the  under  sheet  clean 
for  a  much  longer  period. 

"  In  putting  on  the  upper  sheet  leave  a  good 
margin  turned  over  at  the  top  to  cover  the 
blanket.  Instead  of  a  heavy  white  spread,  place 
over  the  blanket  another  sheet  or  a  dimity  coun- 
terpane. Three  points  to  be  observed  about  a 
sick  bed  are  perfect  cleanliness,  no  crumbs,  and 
no  wrinkles. 

"  Where  the  supply  of  linen  is  limited  a  clean 
pillow  case  can  be  made  to  do  duty  for  a  double 
period.  Change  it  at  night  and  hang  it  out  to 
air  until  the  morning,  when  it  will  be  fresh  for 
the  day.  The  upper  sheet  which  is  often  only 
crushed — not  really  soiled,  can  be  straightened, 
folded  and  used  for  a  draw  sheet." 

I  would  here  add  that  an  invalid  may  be  made 
to  feel  freshly  clothed  for  the  night  and  the  morn- 
ing by  keeping  two  nightgowns  in  use,  one  always 


HOME    NURSING  223 

airing  while  the  other  is  in  wear.  Give  the  one 
that  is  airing  a  good  sun  bath  whenever  you  can. 
All  changes  that  bring  fresh  air  and  the  sun's 
healing  powers  to  a  patient  are  worth  more  than 
doctors  and  medicine  and  cost  far  less. 

Again  quoting  from  Eveleen  Harrison's  prac- 
tical little  book :  "  Crumbs  should  be  brushed  off 
after  every  meal  with  a  little  whisk  broom,  and 
the  draw  sheet  pulled  tightly  and  smoothly  two 
or  three  times  a  day,  to  avoid  wrinkles." 

LIGHT 

"  Sunlight  is  one  of  the  necessities  for  a  sick 
room.  Even  should  the  windows  have  to  be 
darkened  at  the  commencement  of  an  illness,  as 
soon  as  your  patient  is  convalescent  plenty  of  sun- 
shine will  be  of  inestimable  value,  both  mentally 
and  physically.  It  is  a  great  purifier  and  healer, 
and  should  not  be  excluded  except  for  especial 
reasons.  If  the  light  is  too  strong  for  the  eyes, 
you  may  tone  it  by  placing  a  screen  between  the 
windows  and  the  bed.  If  you  keep  the  room 
dark,  or  with  a  '  dim  religious  light,'  your  pa- 
tient's eyes  will  be  weak  and  delicate  for  a  long 
time. 

"  Never  allow  a  bed  to  face  a  window,  as  the 
light  falling  directly  on  the  eyes  is  very  distress- 


224  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

ing.  At  night  darken  the  lamp  or  gas,  by  means 
of  a  small  shade;  a  newspaper  fastened — with  a 
bent  hairpin — on  one  side  of  the  globe  nearest  the 
patient  answers  the  purpose.  A  pretty  flower 
shade  can  easily  and  quickly  be  made  with  bright 
colored  tissue  paper  cut  in  the  shape  of  large  rose 
leaves  and  fastened  with  mucilage  on  a  piece  of 
stiff  net.  The  leaves  must  be  very  full  and 
graduate  towards  the  center.  This  shade  may 
be  fastened  by  wire  on  the  globe." 

HEAT 

"  In  very  cold  weather  the  sick  room  should  be 
kept  at  an  even  temperature.  Where  there  is  no 
open  fireplace  a  small  gas  stove  should  be  on 
hand  in  case  of  emergency. 

"A  thermometer  must  hang  near  the  middle  of 
the  room,  at  some  distance  from  the  window  or 
fireplace,  so  as  to  record  the  exact  temperature, 
which  should  be  carefully  regulated.  In  ordinary 
cases  a  temperature  of  70°  F.  is  the  best,  but 
where  there  is  much  fever,  as  in  typhoid  or  scar- 
let fever,  etc.,  the  room  should  not  be  warmer 
than  65°  F. 

"  In  the  early  morning  hours,  between  three 
and  five  o'clock,  the  atmosphere  is  colder  than 
during  any  other  part  of  the  day,  and  as  the  vi- 


HOME    NURSING  225 

talfty  of  the  body  is  always  lower  at  that  time, 
care  should  be  taken  to  have  extra  blankets  on 
hand  for  the  invalid,  and  if  necessary  give 
a  hot  drink  and  apply  a  hot-water  bag  to 
the  feet.  This  is  especially  to  be  noted  with 
elderly  people  and  in  very  serious  cases  of  ill- 
ness." 

A  thoughtful  nurse  forestalls  the  possibility  of 
her  patient  feeling  the  change  of  temperature 
that  takes  place  in  the  early  morning  hours. 

VENTILATION 

An  open  fireplace  is  a  great  aid  to  ventilation. 
Because  of  this  and  the  cheerful  aspect  that  it 
gives,  it  is  always  a  desirable  feature  of  a  sick 
room..  It  can  be  fed  noiselessly  by  having  the 
coal  for  replenishing  put  in  paper  bags  before  it 
is  brought  to  the  room  or  else  wrapped  in  news- 
paper. In  either  case  it  is  placed  upon  the  fire 
paper  and  coal  at  once.  A  poker  of  wood  causes 
no  noise  and  is  quite  as  useful  as  one  of  iron  or 
brass. 

"  Ventilation  in  the  summer  is  helped,  when 
there  is  no  fire,  by  placing  a  lighted  candle  in  the 
fireplace — causing  a  draught  up  the  chimney — it 
has  the  same  effect  as  a  fire. 

"  The  bed  should  stand  a  little  out  from  the 


226  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

wall  on  all  sides  for  the  air  to  circulate  around 
it.  When  the  weather  is  very  warm  the  bed 
should  stand  in  the  middle  of  the  room.  A 
screen  protects  the  head  from  draughts. 

"  More  fresh  air  is  needed  during  sickness  than 
in  health.  When  the  body  is  weak  the  lungs  re- 
quire more  oxygen  than  when  one  is  well  and 
moving  about. 

"  Thorough  ventilation  may  be  had  in  severe 
weather  without  exposing  the  patient  to  draughts. 
Two-windows  facing  each  other,  left  open  two  or 
three  inches  at  the  top,  will  give  a  continuous  cur- 
rent of  air  high  enough  above  the  bed  to  prevent 
a  draught  immediately  upon  the  patient.  When 
there  is  but  one  window  in  the  room  it  should 
be  open  at  the  top  and,  if  it  is  not  near  the  bed, 
at  the  bottom  also  once  in  a  while,  but  never  let 
air  blow  on  the  bed's  level.  Hot  air  rises,  cold  air 
descends;  cold  air  forces  the  impure  air  up  and 
out  at  the  window's  top.  Ventilation  may  be 
caused  by  raising  the  window  three  or  four  inches 
from  the  bottom  and  placing  a  piece  of  strong 
cardboard  or  a  strip  of  wood  six  or  eight  inches 
wide  over,  but  an  inch  away  from,  the  opening. 
This  permits  the  air  to  enter  gradually  in  an  up- 
ward direction.  The  bed  should  invariably  be 
protected  by  a  screen.  When  ventilating  is  done 


HOME    NURSING  227 

through  an  adjoining  room,  a  screen  should  be 
put  between  the  bed  and  the  door. 

"  This  last  method  of  ventilating  is  done  by 
first  filling  the  room  with  fresh  air  and  allowing 
it  to  warm  gradually  before  opening  the  door 
into  the  sick  room.  In  cases  of  bronchitis  or 
pneumonia,  where  a  breath  of  air  is  likely  to  in- 
crease the  cough,  it  is  wiser  to  air  the  patient's 
room  by  keeping  a  window  open  top  and  bottom 
in  an  adjoining  room,  and  allowing  it  to  enter 
through  a  partly  open  door. 

"  Every  morning  and  evening  the  window 
should  be  opened  wide  for  a  few  minutes — the 
number  of  minutes  depending  upon  the  weather. 
Two  minutes  in  some  weather  will  accomplish  as 
much  of  a  change  in  the  air  as  twenty  will  in 
milder  weather.  Common  sense,  and  not  any 
particular  time  limit,  should  govern  the  duration 
of  the  ventilating  period.  You  should  always 
cover  the  patient  carefully  with  extra  blankets 
and  place  a  shawl  over  the  head  and  mouth  just 
before  and  during  the  morning  and  evening  air- 
ing. Afterwards  remove  the  extra  coverings 
gradually.  Never,  through  your  carelessness,  let 
your  charge  get  a  chill. 

"  To  dissipate  an  unpleasant  odor  take  a  towel 
or  a  newspaper  in  each  hand,  and  wave  them  to 


228  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

and  fro  with  the  window  open.  This  method  is 
efficacious  in  summer,  as  it  creates  a  rapid  circu- 
lation which  freshens  and  cools  the  room. 

"  In  fever  cases  it  is  absolutely  important  to 
have  a  current  of  fresh  air  passing  through  the 
room  all  the  time;  when  the  temperature  is  high 
it  is  almost  impossible  for  the  patient  to  catch 
cold.  Plenty  of  fresh  air  hastens  recovery  by 
lowering  the  temperature. 

"  The  invalid,  or  anyone  who  is  constantly  in 
the  room,  cannot  judge  the  temperature  or  the 
purity  of  the  air.  By  entering  the  room  from 
the  open  air,  or  from  some  other  part  of  the 
house,  the  difference  in  the  atmosphere  is  imme- 
diately noticeable." 

Even  healthy  people  lose  appetite  in  a  close  hot 
room.  By  opening  the  window  for  a  breath  of 
fresh  air  before  meals  the  patient's  appetite  can 
be  stimulated. 

Perfect  cleanliness  should  be  the  inflexible  rule 
in  caring  for  the  patient,  the  bed,  and  the  room. 

"  After  the  daily  bath  the  hair  should  be 
brushed,  the  teeth  and  finger-nails  cleaned,  the 
bed  changed,  and  all  soiled  clothing  removed. 
The  room  should  be  cleaned  as  noiselessly  as 
possible  and  no  dust  raised.  It  can  be  done  by 
using  a  damp  bag  tied  on  the  broom  or  a  cloth 


HOME   NURSING  229 

wrung  out  of  water  pinned  over  it.  A  slightly 
damp  cloth  should  be  used  for  the  dusting." 

All  furniture  that  holds  dust  should  be  dis- 
carded. Never  use  a  feather  duster  in  a  sick 
room.  They  do  not  remove,  but  disseminate, 
dust. 

"  Allow  no  soiled  clothing  to  remain  in  the 
room  any  longer  than  necessary.  Remove  all 
evacuations  also  as  quickly  as  possible."  It  is 
well  to  have  somewhere  outside  a  disinfectant — 
a  can  of  chloride  of  lime  is  good.  Sprinkle  a 
little  in  the  vessels  if  they  have  to  stand  anywhere 
before  emptying.  Use  plenty  of  soap  and  hot 
water  and  ammonia  for  washing  bed-pans  and 
urinals.  In  fever  cases  they  should  be  also 
rinsed  off  with  a  disinfectant  solution.  Never 
permit  these  vessels  to  stand  in  sight  when  not  in 
use. 

"  Flowers  should  not  be  left  over  night  in  the 
sick  room.  The  air  of  the  room  is  purer  at  night 
without  them  and  they  keep  fresh  longer  if  put 
in  a  cool  place.  Flowers  can  be  kept  fresh  for 
some  time  by  taking  them  out  of  the  vases  at  night 
and  cutting  off  a  little  piece  of  the  stem  in  a 
slanting  direction,  then  lay  them  in  a  pasteboard 
box  and  sprinkle  them  " — or  else  pin  them  up  in 
newspaper  and  put  them  outside  the  window. 


230  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

They  should  be  covered  or  pinned  to  exclude  the 
air. 

A  screen  may  be  had  with  little  delay  and  no 
expense  by  using  a  clothes-horse  and  covering  it 
with  muslin,  cheese-cloth,  or  simply  a  sheet 
pinned  securely  with  safety  pins. 

"  Where  there  is  no  bedroom  refrigerator  the 
ice  should  be  wrapped  in  flannel  and  placed  on  a 
bowl  or  cup  turned  upside  down  inside  a  large 
hand-basin;  the  broth,  milk,  or  jelly  can  rest  in 
the  basin  against  the  ice.  The  whole  should  be 
covered  with  a  towel — a  bath-towel  is  the  best — 
and  the  basin  should  stand  near  a  window." 

If  no  miniature  ice  pick  can  be  had,  a  strong 
pin  breaks  it  with  little  trouble. 

Where  there  is  no  little  ice-grinder  in  the 
pantry  and  an  ice-bag  or  ice-cap  is  required,  put 
the  ice  in  a  strong  towel  or  bag  and  pound  it  with 
a  hammer,  but  never  do  this  within  the  hearing 
of  the  sick  one. 

"  Water  or  milk  that  must  be  kept  in  the  room 
should  be  covered  all  the  time,  when  not  being 
given  to  the  patient.  Broth  or  milk  needed  in 
the  night  where  no  ice  can  be  had,  may  be  kept 
cool  by  wrapping  the  vessel  in  a  damp  towel  and 
standing  it  outside  the  window." 

Pillows  should  be  turned  often.     Never  allow 


HOME   NURSING  231 

them  to  get  hot  and  packed.  They  should  be 
shaken  in  the  open  air  at  least  twice  a  day. 
Avoid  jarring  patients  in  doing  anything  to  pro- 
mote their  comfort.  Do  everything  possible 
away  from  the  bed. 

"  To  raise  a  sick  person  while  changing  the 
pillows  or  to  draw  him  up  in  the  bed,  let  him 
clasp  his  arms  firmly  around  your  neck,  then 
place  one  hand  well  under  his  back,  and  lift 
gently  and  slowly,  while  with  the  other  hand 
you  slip  out  one  pillow  and  put  in  another." 

If  possible  have  two  sets  of  pillows,  one  set 
airing  and  sunning  while  the  others  are  in  use. 
Keep  patients  fresh  and  clean,  if  you  would 
hasten  convalescence  and  minimize  their  suffering. 

"  When  a  patient  is  too  weak  to  help  himself, 
get  assistance.  With  one  person  on  each  side  of 
the  bed  each  clasping  the  other's  wrists  firmly 
under  the  patient's  shoulders  and  back  you  can 
raise  or  draw  him  up  in  bed  without  any  strain 
or  fatigue." 

This  should  be  learned  by  practice  with  a  well 
person,  before  you  undertake  it  with  an  invalid. 
Then  there  will  be  no  nervousness  on  the  part  of 
the  tyro  nurse.  And  here  let  it  be  said  that  ner- 
vous, anxious  people  should  exclude  themselves 
from  a  sick  room.  They  do  no  good  and  often 


232  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

do  serious  harm.  If  very  desirous  to  be  of  some 
service,  they  will  find  plenty  to  do  outside  of  the 
sick  room  to  help  the  nurse  without  ever  crossing 
the  threshold. 

Never  permit  your  patient  to  be  annoyed  by 
flies  or  any  insects.  A  mosquito  bar  can  be 
quickly  made  by  having  a  hook  in  the  ceiling  with 
a  large  ring  hanging  from  it,  through  which  a 
piece  of  mosquito  netting  can  be  drawn  and  then 
arranged  around  the  bed.  Be  sure  that  it  lies 
upon  the  floor,  if  you  would  have  it  effective. 

"  Change  of  position  can  be  accomplished,  when 
the  bed  is  a  double  one,  by  keeping  one  side  for 
the  day  and  the  other  for  the  night.  If  the  pa- 
tient is  too  weak  to  roll  over  alone,  you  can  draw 
him  over  on  a  sheet.  With  two  small  beds  side 
by  side  the  change  can  be  made  by  putting  a  large 
sheet  over  the  two  beds  and  allowing  the  patient 
to  roll  over,  or  you  can  draw  him  over  on,  and 
with,  the  sheet." 

Changing  sheets,  with  the  patient  on  the  bed, 
requires  practice  and  should  be  learned  with  a 
well  person  on  the  bed  until  you  are  expert. 
Make  no  experiments  with  the  sick  one. 

Have  the  clean  sheets  always  well  aired  and 
in  cold  weather  warmed.  Shut  the  door  and 
windows  while  the  change  is  being  made. 


HOME   NURSING  233 

"  First  change  the  under  sheet.  Turn  the  pa- 
tient over  from  you  on  one  side,  fold  the  soiled 
sheet  tightly,  in  flat  folds,  close  to  the  patient. 
Lay  on  the  clean  sheet  smoothly  with  half  of  it 
folded  up  against  the  roll  of  the  soiled  sheet,  then 
both  can  be  slipped  under  the  body  at  once. 
Tuck  in  the  clean  sheet  on  that  side  of  the  bed, 
then  cross  to  the  other  side,  turn  the  patient 
back  on  the  opposite  side,  gently  pull  out  the 
soiled  sheet  from  underneath.  Afterwards  draw 
the  folds  of  the  clean  one,  pull  straight,  and  tuck 
firmly  and  neatly.  By  following  this  method 
the  draw  sheet,  rubber  sheeting,  and  under  sheet 
may  all  be  changed  at  one  time. 

"  To  change  the  upper  sheet  loosen  all  the  bed- 
clothes at  the  foot,  then  spread  the  clean  sheet 
and  blanket  on  top  of  the  other  bedclothes. 
With  one  hand  hold  the  clean  sheet  and  blanket 
up  to  the  neck  of  your  patient,  with  the  other 
slip  down  the  soiled  clothes  underneath  right 
over  the  foot  of  the  bed;  tuck  in  the  fresh  bed- 
clothes and  spread  the  counterpane."  An  expert 
will  do  this  without  uncovering  or  fatiguing  the 
invalid. 

No  one  should  ever  sit  on  the  side  of  the  bed 
or  lean  against  it.  No  one  should  walk  heavily 
across  the  floor  of  a  sick  room  or  the  floor  above. 


234  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

"  To  protect  any  injured  part  of  the  body  from 
the  weight  of  bedclothes  without  the  use  of  the 
iron  cradles  used  in  hospitals,  two  or  three  bar- 
rel hoops  will  answer  the  purpose,  or  a  round 
band-box  large  enough  to  slip  the  injured  limb 
through.  Pillows  laid  at  each  side  of  the  bed 
will  keep  bedclothes  a  couple  of  inches  above  the 
sensitive  part. 

"  If  unprovided  with  a  bed-rest,  one  may  be 
contrived  from  a  chair  with  the  legs  turned  up- 
ward on  the  bed.  The  long  sloping  back  then 
forms  a  support  for  pillows  piled  in,  one  behind 
another,  to  the  top.  Put  a  small  pillow  under 
the  knees  to  prevent  the  body  from  slipping  down 
in  the  bed. 

"  Guard  carefully  against  bed-sores.  Some 
people  have  very  sensitive  skins.  Even  during  a 
short  illness  continual  pressure  may  cause  trouble. 
The  back,  elbows,  knees,  and  heels,  but  espe- 
cially the  back,  should  be  watched  closely.  The 
first  symptoms  of  a  bed-sore  are  redness  of  the 
skin  with  a  pricking,  burning  sensation.  Bed- 
sores will  be  found  when  the  vitality  is  weakened 
by  fever,  indeed  it  takes  very  little  in  the  way  of 
pressure,  moisture,  or  continued  dampness,  and 
even  wrinkles  in  the  sheets,  or  crumbs,  to  produce 
these  dreadful  sores.  It  is  far  easier  to  prevent 


HOME   NURSING  235 

than  it  is  to  cure  bed-sores.  In  paralytic  cases, 
and  with  elderly  people,  they  are  most  difficult 
to  heal. 

"  To  prevent,  as  far  as  possible,  any  appearance 
of  them,  bathe  the  parts  daily  with  warm  water 
and  pure  soap,  then  rub  briskly  with  alcohol  to 
harden  the  skin,  and  dust  on  talcum  or  bismuth 
powder  to  remove  all  mofeture.  Guard  carefully 
against  crumbs,  or  wrinkles  in  the  under  sheet. 
Persuade  the  patient  to  turn  in  different  positions 
every  two  or  three  hours,  to  avoid  long-continued 
pressure  on  one  spot. 

"  With  unconscious  patients  .greater  watchful- 
ness is  required.  When  there  are  involuntary 
evacuations,  the  clothing  must  be  changed  imme- 
diately and  the  body  thoroughly  washed  and 
powdered. 

"  The  first  symptoms  of  bed-sores  should  be 
watched  closely  and  all  pressure  removed  from 
the  part  by  a  judicious  use  of  air  cushions  and 
soft  pads.  Soft  pads,  made  from  cheese-cloth 
filled  with  cotton,  can  be  boiled  every  week  as 
well  as  hair  pillows.  Rubber  rings  can  also  be 
easily  washed. 

"  Should  the  skin  become  broken,  stop  using 
alcohol  and  apply  a  little  oxide-of-zinc  ointment 
or  balsam  of  Peru  on  a  piece  of  gauze.  Protect* 


236  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

the  place  with  a  pad.  If  it  does  not  heal  imme- 
diately, seek  special  treatment  from  your  family 
doctor. 

"  No  one  should  enter  the  sick  room  straight 
from  the  open  air  on  a  cold  or  a  wet  day;  all 
should  wait  elsewhere  until  their  clothes  lose 
dampness  and  become  warm. 

"  No  matter  how  acceptable  the  visitor  may  be 
it  is  necessary  to  guard  against  tiring  the  patient. 
And  under  no  circumstances  permit  two  people  to 
sit  each  side  of  the  bed  and  converse  across  the 
invalid.  Visitors  should  occupy  chairs  so  placed 
that  the  sick  one  can  look  at  them  without  any  ef- 
fort. They  should  leave  before  tiring  the  patient." 

It  is  unwise  to  allow  the  patient  to  sit  up  long 
during  the  early  stages  of  convalescence.  "  Half 
an  hour  the  first  day  will  be  sufficient.  After  the 
first  day  it  is  better  to  let  the  convalescent  sit  up 
twice  for  a  short  time,  than  to  be  tired  by  being 
up  too  long." 

In  these  matters  the  nurse  should  be  watchful 
to  learn  just  how  long  a  time  seems  to  do  the 
patient  good,  and  insist  upon  the  invalid  return- 
ing to  bed  before  showing  any  signs  of  weariness. 
"  Sitting  up  in  an  easy-chair  is  a  more  complete 
change  than  reclining  upon  a  sofa.  It  helps  to 
restore  the  strength  more  rapidly." 


HOME   NURSING  237 

Unless  there  be  some  special  reason  to  oppose 
it,  encourage  your  patient  to  walk  a  little  more 
and  more  every  day  after  convalescence.  The 
legs  lose  strength  during  the  inactivity  of  illness 
and  power  can  only  be  restored  by  exercising  them 
judiciously.  But  the  exercise  should  be  taken 
gradually.  Nothing  is  gained  by  overtaxing  the 
strength,  but  something  is  always  lost. 

Give  your  charge  as  much  fresh  air  as  possible 
before  the  first  outing.  If  the  weather  is  cold, 
wrap  a  convalescent  in  blankets  with  a  soft  shawl 
over  the  head.  Then  open  a  window  wide  and 
let  him  enjoy  the  fresh  air  and,  if  possible,  a  pleas- 
ant view.  Before  closing  the  window  or  remov- 
ing the  wraps,  let  your  patient  take  a  walk  around 
the  room  and  find  out  what  the  legs  are  capable 
of  doing  without  fatigue.  Never  remove  the 
wraps  until  the  window  has  been  closed  long 
enough  to  restore  the  usual  atmosphere  to  the 
room. 

Judgment  and  tact  are  imperatively  necessary 
in  dealing  with  a  convalescent  who,  when  weary 
of  the  sick  room  and  the  bed,  is  in  danger  of 
undertaking  much  that  would  retard  recovery. 

No  matter  how  experienced  you  may  be,  never 
allow  your  charges  to  suppose  for  a  moment  that 
you  intend  to  dominate  them — even  for  their  wel- 


238  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

fare.  Rather  give  them  the  contrary  impression, 
if  you  would  influence  them  for  their  good  and 
cultivate  their  docility.  Put  yourself  in  his  place, 
should  be  the  motto  of  all  nurses,  especially  when 
the  patient's  will  seems  opposed  to  theirs. 


CHAPTER  EIGHTEEN  tT 


THE  UNPAID  WORKING  HOUSE- 
KEEPER 

Law  student's  question.      Value  of  wife's  services.      When  romance 
starves.      The    poor   rich    wife.      Arrangements  of  some, 
more  ingenious  than  dignified. 

tr 

'N  every  partnership  relation,  that 
of  husband  and  wife  excepted,  a 
distinct  understanding  and  mutual 
j-agreement  holds  both  parties  to  a 
contract.  Albeit  no  solemn  vows 
are  taken,  the  obligations  are  binding  upon  each 
member  of  the  concern.  But,  in  the  steps  pre- 
liminary to  matrimony,  many  leave  every- 
thing to  chance  or  luck,  so-called,  with 
results  often  most  unlucky,  to  one  especially 
of  the  contracting  parties.  In  consequence, 
all  over  the  land  there  are  countless  women 
who  belong  to  the  class  designated  in  our 
title,  a  silent  body  of  incessant  workers  without 
hope  of  the  slightest  pecuniary  independence. 
Edwin  Markham's  "  Man  with  the  Hoe  "seems 


240  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

a  free  and  enviable  being,  compared  with  these 
sempiternal  drudges.  The  only  variety  in  their 
lives  is  when  they,  perforce,  exchange  household 
work  for  the  labor  of  childbirth  upon  the  ad- 
vent of  each  new  baby.  Those  are  their  resting 
periods,  and  they  are  brief. 

A  law-student  asked:  "  What  would  you  pro- 
pose, how  would  you  regulate  compensation  to  a 
wife?"  Take  an  illustrative  case:  A  woman 
marries,  bears  children,  nurses  and  sews  for 
them;  mends,  makes,  brews,  bakes,  and  fills  the 
complex  position  imposed  by  marriage,  a  growing 
family,  housekeeping  cares,  and  the  demands  of 
her  husband.  (We  are  now  considering  the 
great  army  of  people  in  moderate  circumstances.) 
During  times  of  sickness  the  mother  loses  sleep 
and  is  taxed  to  the  utmost  limit  of  her  strength ; 
unlike  the  trained  nurse,  she  neither  claims  hours 
for  making  up  lost  rest  nor  for  going  into  the 
fresh  air.  Respite  and  refreshment  are  only  for 
the  paid  incumbent,  who  renders  stated  service, 
at  stated  hours,  for  stated  remuneration,  and  who 
can  escape  from  a  galling  situation  without  resort- 
ing to  the  divorce  courts.  But  not  so  the  wife 
and  mother ;  pride  and  love  for  her  children  bind 
her  to  her  hard  fate  until  she  drops  and  finds  her 
first  and  last  resting  place — the  grave. 


THE    HOUSEKEEPER  241 

During  years  of  unremitting  service  as  wife, 
mother,  seamstress — often  general  house-worker 
also — her  return  a  roof,  a  bed,  food,  and  clothes 
— often  prepared  and  made  by  her  own  hands. 
For  every  expenditure  she  gave  an  account  to  the 
lord  of  the  purse,  unless,  like  many  of  her 
equally  dolorous  sisters,  she  condescended  to  rifle 
her  husband's  pockets  when  he  slept,  and  thus 
secured  small  change  for  unquestioned  use. 
When  Death,  at  last,  kindly  severs  the  partner- 
ship the  man,  bereaved  beyond  his  own  realiza- 
tion, casts  about  for  someone  to  look  after  his 
house  and  motherless  children.  Now  the  long- 
ignored  subject  of  compensation,  not  to  be 
evaded,  confronts  him.  Board  and  lodging  no 
longer  count.  For  far  less  service  than  the  wife 
gave  he  must  pay.  Aside  from  the  monthly  ac- 
count of  household  expenses,  will  he  ever  pre- 
sume to  inquire  about  the  cash  outlay  of  the  new 
manager?  She  would  laugh  in  his  face,  should 
he  so  far  forget  himself.  And,  failing  to  come  to 
time  with  her  salary,  he  wrould  find  himself  left 
to  paddle  the  household  canoe  alone  while  facing 
a  legal  action  for  unpaid  wages.  Pay,  pay,  pay, 
is  the  burden  of  the  song  forever  ringing  in  his 
ears;  pay  for  keeping  the  household  wheels  re- 
volving to  the  tune  of  breakfast,  lunch,  and  din- 


242  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

ner;  pay  for  nursing  the  little  ones;  pay  for  tend- 
ing the  sick;  pay  for  making  the  children's 
clothes;  pay  for  their  mending  and  his  own. 
Gone  is  the  day  for  these  things  to  be  done  by 
magic,  as  it  were,  costing  him  no  thought.  It 
passed  with  the  passing  of  his  wife. 

No  wonder  we  have  the  conundrum :  "  Why  is 
a  widower  like  a  young  baby?"  "Because  at 
first  he  cries  all  the  time,  then  he  begins  to  take 
notice,  and  it  is  very  hard  to  get  him  through  the 
second  summer."  Wives  are  frequently,  though 
not  always,  economical  investments;  they  leave  a 
good  margin  for  tobacco  and  beer. 

A  merry  girl  used  to  say  that,  if  ever  she 
married,  she  should  look  for  a  widower  who  could 
bring  a  recommendation  from  his  first  wife.  If 
a  No.  2  should  depend  upon  the  first  wife's 
reference,  many  of  the  lords  of  creation  would 
continue  in  single  blessedness  with  no  opportunity 
to  "  endow  with  all  their  worldly  goods  "  more 
than  one  overconfiding  woman. 

Someone  protests:  "  Oh,  but  the  marriage  rela- 
tion is  a  romantic  affair  and  forbids  sordid 
money-consideration  between  the  pair.  It  is  all 
one  interest."  All  one  interest  too  often  is  true. 
But  which  one? 

The  man  who,  willingly,  permits  his  wife  to 


THE    HOUSEKEEPER  243 

spend  her  life  serving  him  and  their  children  un- 
requited even  to  the  extent  of  wages  paid  to  any 
servant  in  his,  or  some  other,  house,  is  not  likely 
to  impart  any  romance  to  married  life.  Unre- 
mitting care  and  household  work,  with  an  empty 
purse,  perpetually  divorce  one  from  romance. 
Romance  and  sentiment  starve  in  married  life 
where  one  partner  clutches  the  pocketbook  and 
the  other's  purse  is  perpetually  empty,  or  only 
now  and  then  supplied  with  a  niggardly  dole  for 
wrhich  an  account  must  be  rendered.  This  is  no 
overdrawn  picture.  Along  the  various  grades 
of  society  there  are  wives  whose  rights,  in  this 
respect,  are  totally  ignored  by  their  inconsiderate 
husbands.  The  "  poor  rich  wife "  has  passed 
into  a  proverb  because  the  stupid,  hoary  old  cus- 
tom of  regarding  woman  as  dependent  is  still  in- 
grained in  the  genus  homo. 

She  should  be  a  lovely  vine  clinging  about  that 
sturdy  oak — Man.  The  sturdy  oak  often  proves 
to  be  a  sapling  unable  to  bear  the  rigorous  blasts 
of  housekeeping  cares  and  incapable  of  minding 
the  children  even  when  he  is  in  the  house.  This 
makes  no  difference  in  the  opinion  of  those 
who  are  governed  by  the  traditions  of  the 
elders. 

The  wife  of  a  wealthy  New  York  man  used  to 


244  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

declare,  with  tears,  that  she  was  constantly  sub- 
jected to  mortification  because  her  splendid  en- 
vironment, elegant  equipages,  and  costly  clothes, 
together  with  her  husband's  well-known  wealth, 
attracted  people  who  were  seeking  subscriptions 
for  the  advancement  of  worthy  objects.  With- 
out any  bank  account  of  her  own  and  even  with 
her  purse  empty,  she  was  always  obliged  to  say, 
"  I  must  first  consult  with  my  husband."  As  he 
required  all  bills  to  be  sent  to  him  for  payment, 
while  requiring  his  wife  to  be  gowned  in  keeping 
with  her  splendid  cage  and  their  grand  entertain- 
ments, she  was  literally  a  pampered  pauper  in  her 
own  home — the  beggar  on  the  street  had  more 
small  change  than  that  dolorous  wife.  Kindly 
Death  came  at  last  to  her  rescue  by  unclasping 
the  tight  fist  of  the  man,  who  was  compelled  to 
leave  his  possessions  forever.  His  widow 
was  not  altogether  inconsolable.  Her  visible 
mourning  was  not  painful  to  herself.  Signing 
checks  for  it  with  her  own  hand  thrilled  her  with 
pleasure  unknown  in  her  married  experience. 
Paying  her  owrn  bills  served  to  assuage  any  pos- 
sible pang  of  widowhood.  It  is  pleasant  to  be 
able  to  state  that  she  survived  her  liege-lord  many 
years  to  taste  the  joys  of  independence,  and  never 
seemed  impatient  to  be  reunited  to  him  in  the 


THE    HOUSEKEEPER  245 

spheres  where  money,  bank  accounts,  and  mar- 
riage are  supposed  to  be  unknown. 

Stones  are  current,  more  truthful  than  poetic, 
showing  the  devices  resorted  to  by  some  of  these 
"  poor  rich  wives "  to  outwit  their  close-fisted 
spouses.  The  arrangements  are  more  remarkable 
for  ingenuity  than  dignity.  They  make  one 
think  of  the  crooked  ways  of  tax  and  tariff 
evaders.  The  husbands  of  these  women  prob- 
ably are  adepts  in  those  evasions,  consequently 
their  wives  are  in  a  school  of  duplicity.  Apt 
pupils,  they  secure  ready  cash  to  spend  by  taking 
the  dressmaker,  milliner,  and  even  their  teachers 
of  languages  and  music  into  their  confidence. 
Together  they  conspiretto  extract  funds  from  the 
lord  of  the  exchequer  without  his  knowledge. 
The  bills  of  these  people  are  by  an  understanding 
augmented  beyond  their  customary  charges,  and 
the  surplus  finds  its  way  into  the  ever-empty 
purse  of  the  wife.  Undoubtedly  she  has  no  com- 
punctions, as  she  feels  and  knows  it  is  her  own, 
unjustly  withheld,  that  she  thus  secures.  Of 
course  there  can  be  no  "  heart  to  heart  confi- 
dences "  between  these  unhappy  wives  and  their 
narrow-minded  husbands. 

Poor  indeed  are  these  women  in  ways  unrelated 
to  an  empty  purse.  Poorer  are  the  men  who 


246  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

drive  them  to  such  petty  deception.  But  the  un- 
paid working-housekeeper  has  no  such  oppor- 
tunity to  secure  a  private  purse.  Hers  is  a  work- 
a-day  world.  Small  wonder,  then,  if  she  rob  her- 
self of  needed  sleep  to  play  the  wary  pickpocket 
after  her  spouse  is  locked  in  slumber.  Fancy  the 
picture!  A  woman  rifling  the  pockets  of  her 
dear  lord  in  the  small  hours  that  she  may  have 
car-fares  and  postage  stamps  without  always  say- 
ing, "  Please,  sir,  give  me  a  dime." 

Turning  from  these  unpleasant  facts,  it  is  re- 
freshing to  know  that  there  is  a  reverse  side  to 
the  picture.  Not  all  men  are  so  niggardly  to 
their  wives.  A  new  order  of  man  came  upon  the 
scene  some  time  ago,  the  sort  that  respect  their 
wives  and  deal  in  an  honorable,  manly,  business- 
like way  with  them.  One  of  this  refreshing  type 
not  only  gave  his  wife  the  household  money  to 
disburse  in  her  own  way  and  pay  all  bills,  but 
also  gave  her  a  generous  allowance  for  her  own 
private  expenses;  in  addition,  he  kept  a  careful 
account  of  his  owrn  foolish  outlay  for  cigars,  and 
every  month  handed  to  his  wife  exactly  as  much 
as  he  had  wasted  for  her  to  waste,  if  she  so 
pleased,  in  some  equally  unwise  way. 

That  pair  spent  sixteen  happy  years  together, 
and  those  who  knew  them  intimately  realized  that 


THE    HOUSEKEEPER  247 

romance  never  died  out  of  their  married  life. 
When  the  sad  hour  of  separation  came  there  were 
only  beautiful  memories  for  the  widow,  who  said, 
in  the  midst  of  her  first  grief,  "  He  was  always 
Douglas  tender  and  true." 

In  the  new  era  the  wife-housekeeper  will  be  a 
partner  and  have  her  services  recognized  quite  as 
fairly  as  are  those  of  the  paid  superintendent  of 
any  establishment. 


CHAPTER  NINETEEN  U 


BOOKS  THAT  SHOULD  BE  IN  THE 
HOME 


The  millionaire's  library.      Make  old  and  young  resourceful.      The 
unabridged  dictionary.      Atlas  of  the  world.      Teach  chil- 
dren to  consult  references  themselves. 


OT  every  home  can  have  a 
library  well  stocked  with  books 
of  all  sorts  for  reading  or  for 
reference.  That  is  one  of  the 
luxuries  that  only  the  very  rich 
can  evoke  by  a  few  strokes  of 
the  pen.  But  the  library  that  comes  into  exist- 
ence in  that  way  is  not  the  most  enjoyable  to  its 
owner.  In  fact,  the  owner  of  that  sort  of  a 
library  is  apt  to  be  unfamiliar  with  books  in 
general,  and  bookkeeping  is  more  interest- 
ing to  him  than  reading.  His  library  would 
be  a  paradise  to  the  student  and  true 
lover  of  books,  but  to  him  it  is  just  a  portion 
of  his  palace  furnished,  like  all  the  rest,  to  order, 
by  an  expert  with  publishers'  catalogues  as  guides. 


BOOKS  249 


I  know  just  such  a  library.  It  had  to  be  fifty 
feet  square  to  be  in  proportion  to  the  grand  man- 
sion that  is  five  times  fifty  feet  square.  You  feel 
like  stopping  up  your  ears  when  you  view  the 
whole  establishment,  for  it  screeches  at  you, 
"Just  see  how  much  I  cost!"  It  is  stunning 
everywhere.  But  the  owner  never  has  time  to 
read  anything  but  the  stock  market,  and  his  hands 
are  so  full  of  coupons  to  be  cut  off  that  he  has  no 
place  in  them  for  holding  any  but  a  checkbook. 
The  only  people  that  really  ever  got  any  enjoy- 
ment out  of  his  great,  big,  splendid  library  were 
the  publishers  who  filled  his  agent's  orders. 

Young  married  people  and  others  starting  out 
in  life  who  are  in  moderate  circumstances  cannot 
usually  begin  with  a  supply  of  useful  books  un- 
less they  have  been  so  fortunate  as  to  inherit  the 
library  of  some  literary  relative,  or  have  been 
blessed  with  wise  parents  and  such  wise  training 
that  they  learned,  very  early  in  life,  to  love  read- 
ing and  to  collect  and  take  good  care  of  books. 
This  class  needs  no  hints  about  book-collecting. 
But  there  are  many  who  have  not  been  so  happily 
circumstanced  in  their  youthful  days,  and  they 
often  feel  the  lack  without  knowing  the  best  way 
to  fill  or  overcome  it.  They  long  to  give  to  their 
children  the  advantages  which  never  were  theirs, 


250  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

for  they  realize  that,  without  a  good  education, 
early  in  life,  people  are  ever  after  handicapped, 
no  matter  how  much  money  they  may  get  for 
themselves,  or  inherit  from  others.  After  per- 
fect health  there  is  nothing,  on  the  material  plane, 
that  makes  children  and  grown  people  so  inde- 
pendent, resourceful,  and  happy  as  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  best  literature.  As  no 
one  can  read  all  the  books  worth  reading  at  once 
so  there  is  no  need  for  owning  them  all  at  once. 
But  there  are  some  books  that  every  home  should 
have  and  use  constantly,  and  depend  upon  no 
outside  library  for  them. 

Taking  for  granted  that  every  home  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course  will  have  at  least  one  Bible  and  one 
copy  of  Shakspeare  as  part  of  its  indispensable 
furnishing,  we  pass  on  to  the  next  most  impor- 
tant book  without  which  much  reading  will  be 
bereft  of  advantage  to  the  reader.  What  is  the 
use  of  words  if  one  knows  not  their  meaning  or 
only  has  a  glimmering  idea  of  their  signification  ? 
What  is  the  use  of  reading  about  places  on  this 
our  globe,  if  they  are  not  located  and  pictured  on 
the  mental  gallery  by  finding  them  out  on  some 
map  if  not  by  seeing  sketches  of  them  ?  Then  an 
unabridged  dictionary  and  a  complete  atlas  of 
the  world  are  absolutely  necessary  in  every 


BOOKS  251 


household,  where  the  family  is  expected  to  be 
cultured  and  read,  as  well  as  think,  intelligently. 
Children  taught  to  use  these  and  other  reference 
books,  of  which  mention  will  be  made  in  this 
chapter,  with  very  little  going  to  school  will  be 
more  thoroughly  educated  when  they  grow  up 
than  other  children  who  have  expensive  schooling, 
but  no  training  in  looking  up  meanings,  places, 
and  everything  else  that  they  come  across  in  their 
reading  which  is  not  perfectly  clear  to  them. 
No.  3  on  the  list  of  desirable  books  is  a  Classical 
Dictionary.  These  three  should  be  always 
accessible  and  faithfully  used  by  parents  and 
children  alike,  for,  after  you  show  a  child  how 
to  look  up  anything,  it  should  do  that  work 
for  itself.  The  books  ought  to  be  kept  in  one 
place  on  suitable  stands,  and  no  one  allowed  to 
lift  them  about  from  place  to  place.  That 
is  what  damages  heavy  books.  In  other  words, 
not  use,  but  abuse  wears  them  out  too 
soon.  In  this  connection  it  may  as  well  be 
said  that  children  should  be  taught  early — 
just  as  soon  as  they  handle  books  at  all — the 
proper  way  to  open  and  hold  a  book.  All 
heavy  books  require  especial  care.  They  should, 
when  too  heavy  for  the  hand,  perpetually  rest  on 
a  table  or  a  stand.  No  one  should  ever  be  al- 


252  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

lowed  to  lean  upon  an  open  book.  Those  that 
can  be  handled  without  effort  should  be  allowed 
to  rest  with  their  backs  in  the  palm  of  the  hand 
while  one  is  glancing  over  them.  This  of  course 
applies  to  books  with  nice  bindings.  I  shall  never 
forget  my  first  lesson  in  holding  a  book.  I  was 
looking  at  a  beautiful  volume  held  open  with 
both  hands  and  enjoying  its  exquisite  make-up — 
all  unconscious  that  the  owner  was  on  tenter- 
hooks while  watching  me.  After  a  moment  he 
said  gently:  "Cousin  L.,  will  you  let  me  show 
you  how  to  hold  a  book?  "  And  then  he  placed  it 
as  I  have  described  in  the  palm  of  his  hand,  thus 
fully  supporting  the  two  sides  of  the  cover,  and 
let  it  open  without  straining  it  in  any  part.  That 
lesson  is  always  recalled  to  my  mind  when  I  see 
anyone  handle  a  book  roughly.  The  three  books 
that  have  been  just  recommended  can  be  bought 
by  degrees  where  very  careful  expenditure  is 
necessary,  but,  whenever  it  is  possible,  they  should 
find  very  early  introduction  and  place  in  every 
home.  They  will  prove  invaluable,  ever  faith- 
ful friends  to  all  who  seek  their  acquaintance. 
And  there  is  never  any  risk  of  becoming  too  inti- 
mate with  them.  The  Century  or  the  Standard 
Dictionary — each  one  holds  a  mine  of  informa- 
tion— whichever  you  choose  will  be  an  endless 


BOOKS  253 


source  of  delight  and  settle  for  you  all  sorts  of 
puzzling  and  doubtful  questions.  Let  the  father 
dispense  with  tobacco  and  the  mother  go  without 
finery,  at  least  until  a  row  of  those  fascinating 
books  rests  upon  a  shelf  within  reach  of  all  who 
know  how  to  handle  a  valuable  book.  And  never 
forget  that  all  these  are  to  be  studied,  not  merely 
owned.  Any  standard  books  of  prose  and  poet- 
ical quotations  that  are  complete  come  next  in 
importance  for  the  family  at  home.  All  the 
books  that  one  wants  to  read  can  be  found  in  the 
public  libraries,  but,  while  reading,  these  books 
of  reference  should  be  very  easily  reached,  and 
that  is  why  they  ought  to  be  the  nucleus  of  the 
home  library.  They  make  nice  holiday  gifts,  and 
have  the  advantage  of  growing  in  importance  the 
more  you  refer  to  them.  In  this  they  differ  es- 
sentially from  many  things  that  are  given  as 
presents.  A  book  of  English  synonyms  is  helpful, 
and  if  your  Bible  is  not  furnished  with  a  full 
concordance,  by  all  means  get  Cruden's  and  keep 
it  along  with  the  Bible,  which  is  a  library  in 
itself.  No  matter  what  your  religious  belief,  or 
if  you  have  none  at  all,  the  Bible  should  be  fa- 
miliar to  everyone  who  wishes  to  be  well  in- 
formed. So  much  of  it  is  incorporated  into  all 
the  best  English  literature,  either  directly  quoted 


254  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

or  in  other  ways,  that  one  can  hardly  be  said  to 
have  received  a  good  English  education  if  not 
thoroughly  at  home,  and  conversant,  with  the 
Bible. 

It  is  cruel  to  permit  children  to  grow  up  with- 
out being  acquainted  with  the  wild  flowers  that 
they  meet  and  the  trees  that  they  see,  as  they 
go  about.  There  are  delightful  books,  giving  in- 
formation about  both  in  such  a  simple  way  that 
whoever  knows  how  to  read  can  find  out  what 
they  are  and  to  what  family  in  plant  life  they 
belong  as  easily  as  they  can  look  up  word-mean- 
ings in  the  dictionary;  and  a  leaf  brought  home 
from  a  tree  will  be  the  means  of  revealing  the 
name  of  the  tree  when  it  is  compared  with  its 
counterpart  in  the  book,  written  by  an  arborist. 
Mrs.  Dana's  "  How  to  Find  the  Wild  Flowers  " 
would  make  a  delightful  birthday  gift  to  a  little 
girl  who  loves  to  go  after  the  wild  flowers.  Nor 
should  the  stars  be  totally  strange  to  children. 
There  is  a  deeply  interesting  book  upon  astron- 
omy called  "  Warren's  Recreations  in  Astron- 
omy." Not  a  dull  sentence  is  there  in  it.  If 
read  aloud,  and  then  the  stars  of  the  season  are 
looked  for  in  the  sky,  the  children  can  soon  greet 
the  constellations  by  name  and  also  recognize  all 
of  the  bright  stars  in  the  heavens.  With  Whit- 


BOOKS  255 


taker's  "  Planisphere  Showing  the  Principal  Stars 
Visible  for  Every  Hour  in  the  Year,  from  Lati- 
tude 40  Degrees  N.,"  and  the  astronomy  just 
mentioned,  no  family  need  remain  in  dull  igno- 
rance of  the  heavens  in  our  latitude. 

Of  books  written  especially  for  children  there 
are  so  many  worth  reading  over  and  over 
again  it  is  not  very  easy  to  name  only  a  few. 
But  I  should  like  to  know  that  "  Everybody's 
Fairy  Godmother,"  written  by  Dorothy  Quigley, 
and  Mrs.  Ewing's  books,  were  in  every  child's 
hands. 


CHAPTER  TWENTY  U 


MISCELLANEOUS  HINTS  FOR  HOUSE- 
WIVES 

In  the  kitchen.      About  the  house.      The  traveler.      The  seam- 
stress.     Bedspreads.      The  snorer.      Fumigate  with  sulphur. 

TJ 

IN    THE    KITCHEN 

O  cook  an  egg  daintily  never 
let  it  boil.  Drop  it  into  water 
that  is  boiling,  and  then  set  it 
in  a  hot  place  to  keep  the  heat 
steady.  For  those  who  like  the 
yellow  soft  and  the  white  set 
let  it  remain  in  the  hot  water  five  minutes.  It 
will  be  found  delicate,  the  white  like  jelly,  but 
not  hard  and  tough  as  it  is  when  the  egg  is 
allowed  to  boil.  If  desired  to  have  the  yolk 
hard  it  is  only  necessary  to  leave  it  in  the  hot 
water  seven  or  eight  minutes,  according  to  the 
taste  of  the  person  who  is  to  eat  the  egg. 

Dairy  products  require  the  greatest  care  to  pre- 
vent their  becoming  tainted  by  the  atmosphere 


MISCELLANEOUS    HINTS         257 

or  anything  that  has  an  odor.  No  matter  how 
agreeable  it  may  be  it  will  spoil  butter,  cream, 
and  milk,  if  they  are  left  in  a  refrigerator  with 
it.  Fruit,  fish,  or  anything  that  affects  the  air 
must  not  be  near  dairy  products.  Flowers  will 
taint  butter.  Dairy  products  are  exclusive. 
They  must  have  a  compartment  by  themselves, 
in  a  refrigerator.  If  anywhere  else,  they 
need  to  be  carefully  guarded  from  becoming 
tainted  by  nearness  to  other  things.  The  most 
delicious  butter  and  the  freshest  cream  can  be 
soon  converted  into  soap  grease  by  contact  with 
the  odor  of  cheese,  fish,  flesh,  fowl,  or  flowers. 
The  only  safe  way  is  to  keep  them  by  themselves. 
There  is  risk  in  having  them  with  other  things, 
even  if  they  are  closely  covered. 

Stale  bread  and  cake  may  be  freshened  by 
wrapping  in  a  damp  towel  and  placing  them  in  a 
hot  place  until  the  towel  dries,  and  then  putting 
them  in  stoHe  jars,  covered.  Another  way  is  to 
wrap  in  a  dry  towel  and  place  them  in  a  colan- 
der set  over  a  kettle  of  boiling  water.  This 
steams  the  bread  or  cake,  and  it  can  be  eaten 
very  soon.  Care  must  be  observed  not  to  let 
them  get  too  moist.  If  the  crust  seems  wet,  slip 
it  into  the  oven  and  watch  it  for  a  moment;  let 
it  get  dry,  but  not  hard. 


258  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

There  is  an  art  in  making  good  apple  sauce. 
Tart  apples  that  are  tender  and  cook  quickly 
are  the  best  for  the  purpose  in  summer.  Spitz- 
bergens,  the  finely  flavored  old-fashioned  sort, 
make  the  most  delicious  apple  sauce  in  winter. 
Do  not  peel  many  at  a  time,  peel  rapidly  as  pos- 
sible with  a  silver  knife,  and  drop  into  cold  water 
as  fast  as  peeled.  Have  tea  kettle  boiling  wrhen 
slicing  begins.  Slice  into  a  granite  or  porcelain- 
lined  kettle  of  fresh,  cold  water.  When  all  are 
sliced  drain  off  the  cold  water  and  cover  with 
boiling  water,  adding  a  few  thin  slices  of  a  nice, 
clean  lemon.  Cook  rapidly,  stir  often.  Slow 
cooking  darkens  the  sauce.  Remove  when  tender, 
and  beat  with  a  perforated  spoon,  or  else  mash 
through  a  colander.  Sweeten  with  granulated 
sugar  to  suit  the  taste.  If  you  prefer  the  lemon 
slices  left  in,  remove  them  before  you  pass  the 
mass  through  the  colander,  and  then  return  them 
to  it  after  it  is  strained. 

Baked  potatoes  can  be  kept  mealy  by  breaking 
them  open  as  soon  as  baked.  This  lets  the  steam 
out  that  makes  them  moist  after  standing.  They 
should  be  wrapped  in  a  crash  towel  and  kept  in  a 
hot  place  until  eaten. 

When  soup  has  been  made  too  salt,  a  little  vin- 
egar and  sugar  carefully  added  will  often  over- 


MISCELLANEOUS    HINTS        259 

come  the  fault.  If  discovered  in  time,  a  few 
slices  of  raw  potato  scalded  in  it  will  have  the 
same  effect.  They  should  be  strained  out  before 
the  soup  is  sent  to  the  table. 

Celery  stalks  or  leaves  do  much  toward  remov- 
ing the  odor  of  onions  from  hands,  dishes,  etc. 

To  keep  food  hot  that  is  sent  upstairs  on  a  tray 
have  the  dishes  heated  first,  and  then  set  them 
on  bowls  of  hot  water.  Heat  the  covers  also. 

A  cheap  and  useful  tray-cosey  can  be  made  by 
using  a  pasteboard  box  that  covers  the  entire  tray, 
which  can  then  be  carried  through  halls  and  up- 
stairs without  chilling  the  food.  It  is  impossible 
to  take  too  much  pains  about  serving  food  hot, 
either  on  the  table  or  when  sent  to  rooms. 

EXCELLENT    GRAPE    JUICE     RECIPE 

After  removing  stems  and  washing  through  a 
colander  cover  grapes  with  cold  water,  and  boil 
until  tender. 

Drain  through  a  cheese-cloth  bag.  Add  one 
coffee-cup  of  sugar  for  every  three  quarts  of 
juice.  Place  over  the  fire  just  long  enough  to 
come  to  a  boil.  Skim  and  bottle  while  hot.  Do 
not  cook  longer  in  the  first  place  than  absolutely 
necessary  to  make  them  tender.  The  second  time 
observe  underlining  above.  Much  cooking  spoils 


260  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

the  flavor.  Seal  the  corks  with  paraffin.  One 
who  knows  says:  "This  grape  juice  is  excellent, 
palatable,  and  refreshing." 

The  Rumford  Baking  Powder  is  declared  by 
the  same  authority  to  be  better  than  any  other. 
Biscuits,  etc.,  made  with  it  retain  their  freshness 
longer  than  when  made  with  any  of  the  other 
powders.  "  Authority  "  has  used  it  for  twenty 
years,  and  sent  from  Utica,  N.  Y.,  to  Chicago 
for  it,  until  it  was  introduced  in  the  Eastern 
States. 

To  keep  flies  out  of  the  larder  sponge  the  win- 
dows daily  with  a  weak  solution  of  carbolic  acid 
and  water.  You  will  not  be  troubled  with  flies 
if  you  attend  to  this  faithfully. 

A  piece  of  zinc  buried  in  the  live  coals  of  the 
stove  will  clean  out  the  stove  pipe. 

Oyster  shells  used  in  the  same  way  will  re- 
move clinkers  from  fire  brick. 

Try  a  small  brush,  not  too  stiff,  for  cleaning 
potatoes  and  other  roots,  and  save  your  hands. 

A  useful  kitchen  device  is  a  perforated  strainer 
that  fits  tightly  in  the  escape  of  the  sink.  The 
strainer  is  funnel-shaped  and  easily  allows  liquids 
to  flow  into  the  pipe,  but  retains  all  solid  matter. 

The  bread-mixer  is  a  useful  invention;  it 
mixes  thoroughly  a  whole  baking  of  bread  in 


MISCELLANEOUS    HINTS        261 

five  minutes,  and  is  so  easily  operated  that  even  a 
child  can  use  it. 

The  kitchen  should  never  be  without  supplies 
of  concentrated  lye  and  washing  soda.  The  lye 
ought  to  be  used  once  a  week  to  eat  away  the 
grease  collected  on  the  inside  of  the  waste  pipe  of 
the  sink.  The  proper  way  to  apply  it  is  to  dis- 
solve it  in  boiling  water  and  pour  down  the  pipe 
while  it  is  hot. 

Washing  soda  makes  cleaning  pots  and  kettles 
less  laborious.  Fill  the  utensil  with  hot  water 
as  high  up  as  it  requires  cleansing,  and  set  it  over 
the  fire  with  a  tablespoonful  of  soda.  After  the 
utensil  is  cleaned  the  same  soda  water  will  be 
useful  in  cleansing  the  sink. 

ABOUT    THE     HOUSE 

When  kerosene  oil  is  spilled  on  the  carpet 
cover  the  place  thickly  with  buckwheat  flour  or 
oatmeal,  and  leave  it  twenty-four  hours,  at  least, 
before  brushing  it  up. 

Use  soft  tissue  paper,  moistened  a  little,  for 
dusting  when  the  cheese-cloth  duster  is  not  at 
hand. 

Felt  soles  pasted  on  the  bottoms  of  rubber 
overshoes  will  help  the  wicked  and  the  pious  to 
walk  in  slippery  places.  A  resourceful  woman 


262  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

used  an  old  felt  hat  and  library  paste  for  this 
purpose. 

When  new  shoes  are  very  stiff  or  even  a  trifle 
tight,  wet  them  with  alcohol  inside,  especially 
near  the  soles,  and  don  immediately.  Wear  them 
until  perfectly  dry.  Alcohol  dries  quickly. 

In  cases  of  badly  matted  hair  during  illness, 
instead  of  sacrificing  to  the  shears,  wet  it  with 
alcohol  to  loosen  the  snarl. 

FOR    TRAVELERS 

When  traveling  in  the  railroad  cars  carry  a 
pinch  of  flaxseed  in  case  a  cinder  gets  in  the  eye. 
A  seed  inserted  under  the  lid  soon  becomes  glu- 
tinuous  and  the  cinder  gets  coated;  unless  it  has 
cut  into  the  eye,  it  can  be  promptly  removed. 

FOR    THE   SEAMSTRESS 

In  making  sleeves  of  lined  dresses  for  children 
it  saves  time  and  trouble  later  on,  if  a  good-sized 
piece  of  the  goods  be  run  on  the  inside  between 
lining  and  material,  where  the  hardest  wear 
comes.  By  so  doing  the  elbows  do  not  give  out 
so  soon,  and  when  they  do  wear  it  will  not  show, 
and  the  material  is  already  in  place  for  neat  darn- 
ing. 

The  hems  of  white  petticoats,  if  turned  up  on 


MISCELLANEOUS    HINTS         263 

the  right  side  do  not  pull  out  so  readily  as  they 
do  when  hemmed  in  the  old-fashioned  way. 

In  making  growing  children's  dresses,  when 
the  hems  are  straight,  run  a  tuck  in  the  under 
side  of  the  hem  for  lengthening  later. 

Before  cleaning  or  pressing  coats,  waists,  etc., 
catch  all  the  pocket  openings  and  the  button-holes 
together  to  keep  them  in  shape. 

In  pinning  bedspreads,  curtains,  etc.,  on 
clothes-lines  place  right  side  out  with  a  little 
strip  of  clean,  old  rag  under  clothes-pin  to  pre- 
vent a  mark.  Always  wipe  line  first. 

Black  silk  may  be  refreshed  by  sponging  and, 
while  quite  damp,  rolling  on  a  clean  broomstick 
to  be  left  there  until  perfectly  dry.  Silk  should 
never  be  ironed. 

To  make  pretty  and  inexpensive  bedspreads  get 
organdie  and  line  it  with  sateen  the  color  of  the 
room-decorations.  Border  the  sides  with  a  ruffle 
of  the  organdie,  twelve  inches  wide,  unlined. 
These  spreads  are  beautiful  when  made  of  or- 
gandie, with  a  colored  pattern  of  flowers.  They 
must  always  be  lined,  whether  of  plain  white  or 
in  fancy  patterns.  Buy  during  the  marked-down 
season,  or  else  old-fashioned  goods  that  are  selling 
cheap;  for  this  purpose  they  are  quite  as  pretty 
as  the  latest,  sometimes  prettier.  Be  sure  to  have 


264  HOUSE  AND  HOME 

the  spread  long  enough  to  cover  the  entire  bed, 
pillows  and  all. 

TO    CURE    A    SNORER 

If  there  is  a  snorer  in  the  house,  administer, 
at  bed-time,  six  drops  of  olive  oil  on  a  pinch  of 
mustard.  The  oil  lubricates  the  larynx  and  the 
mustard  acts  as  a  counter-irritant. 

TO    FUMIGATE    WITH    A    SULPHUR    CANDLE 

To  fumigate  with  a  sulphur  candle,  close  all 
the  doors  and  windows  of  the  room  and  make  it 
as  air-tight  as  possible  by  pasting  paper  over  the 
window  cracks,  and  around  the  outside  of  the 
door  after  you  have  started  the  fumigation. 
Have  a  tub  witfi  a  little  water  in  the  bottom  for 
the  candle  to  stand  in  to  prevent  any  danger  of 
fire.  A  tin  tub  is  good,  but  even  that  should  have 
water.  After  lighting  the  candle  and  closing 
the  door  do  not  open  for  at  least*  twenty-four 
hours.  Whoever  goes  in  first  should,  if  possible, 
have  a  window  or  door  leading  to  outside  air 
open  opposite  the  door  of  the  fumigated  room  in 
order  to  let  in  as  much  fresh  air  as  possible  before 
entering  the  room  to  open  windows.  As  soon  as 
the  windows  of  the  room  are  opened  the  door 
should  be  closed  again  and  the  place  left  to  get 


MISCELLANEOUS    HINTS         265 

well  aired  before  anyone  goes  in  to  stay.  To 
ventilate  a  place  quickly  open  the  windows  at  the 
top  and  the  bottom  at  once,  because  that  causes  a 
steady  change  of  air,  while  it  enters  at  the  bottom 
and  forces  the  heated  .or  foul  air  up  and  out  at 
the  top. 


INDEX 


Air  (see  Ventilation) 
Airing  sick  rooms,  225- 

226 

Apple  sauce,  258 
Architects,  shortcomings 

of,  12 

Artists,  household,  73 
Astronomy,  254-255 
Atlas,  250 

Baking  powders,  260 

Bath-room  convenien- 
ces, 90-91;  etiquette,  93 
Barrels  (for  packing),  35 

Bed  making  for  the  sick, 
220,  232 

Bed  sores,  234 

Beds,  airing  and  mak- 
ing, 101-102;  boarding 
house,  103;  servant's, 
109,  122 

Bedclothes,  68 

Bedspreads,  106,  263 

Bedsteads  (care  of),  105, 
107,  109 

Black  silk  freshened,  263 

Blankets,  102 

Bolts,  84 

Books,  three  most  essen- 
tial, 250-251;  correct 
handling  of,  252;  for 
children,  255 

Bread  cutting,  170;  mak- 
ing, 155;  mixer,  260 

Broth  (in  sick  room),  230 

Builders,  contracts  with, 
29 


Burglars,  85 

Buying  a  house,  21;  fur- 
niture, 65 

Candle,    ventilation  by, 

225 

Cake,  152 
Care  of    things   in  use, 

174 

Carpets,  sanitary,  76 

Carving,  180 

Cellar  stairs,  15 

Cellars,  13,  14,  57 

Chain  bolts,  84 

Children,  apartment 
house,  201;  and  moth- 
ers, 193;  and  the  truth 
(Chas.  Wagner),  203; 
gifts  to,  199;  obstreper- 
ous, 187;  occupations 
for,  195,  196,  197;  the 
happiest,  194 

Children's  cash  allow- 
ance, 197;  ethics,  194; 
health,  192;  tempera- 
ture (normal),  217; 
thoughts,  205-206 

Christian  :  definition  of 
a,  94 

Chimneys,  21 

Cinder  in  eye,  to  remove, 
262 

Clinical  thermometer, 
215 

Clinkers,  to  remove,  260 

Coffee,  after-dinner  (serv- 
ing), 170,  183 


268 


INDEX 


Convalescent,  exercise 
for  the,  237 

Cooking,  good  and  bad, 
148-149 

Cook's  judgment,  how  to 
gauge,  155 

Couches,  72,  73 

"  Credit,  "66 

Crimes  against  criminals, 
16-18 

Curtains,  sash  and  win- 
dow, 74,  75 

Dainty  articles,  care  of, 

39,58 
Dairy  products,  how  to 

keep,  256 
Desks,  76,  81 
Dictionaries,  251-252 
Dirt  and  doctor's  bills,  76 
Disinfectants,  99,  229 
Dinner,  announcing,  176; 

serving,  177 
Dish  washing,  175 
Domestic    service,     134; 

(anecdote),  130 
Door  cleaning,  54 
Doors,  to  protect  (when 

moving),  55 
Dust,  to  minimize,  48 

Economy,  28,  38,  48 
Eggs,    how   to   boil   cor- 
rectly, 256 
Employer  and  employee, 

135 

Etiquette,  184 
Excelsior  (for  packing), 

39 
Feather  dusters,  77 


Felt  soles,  261 
Finger  bowls,  169 
Fireplaces  (in  sick  rooms), 

225 
Flowers  (on    the   table), 

1 68:    (in    sick    rooms), 

229;  books  on  wild,  254 
Flies,    to    drive    out    of 

larder,  260 
Floors,  53 
Flues,  20,  22,  23 
Food,  to  keep  hot  on   a 

tray,  259 
Fuel,  45 

Fumigation,  55,  264 
Furniture,  46,  56,  63,  65, 

71,  81 

Glasses,  to  fill  at  table, 
178 

Golden  rule,  163 

Gold  piece,  a  child's  (an- 
ecdote), 197 

Grape  juice,  receipt  for, 
259 

"  Half-baked  people,"  94 
Halls,  lighting  of,  85 
Hair,  to  untangle  matted, 

262 

Heaters,  23 
Healthful  location,  26 
House   cleaning,  47,  48; 
cleaners,    58;  hunting, 
25;  maids,    102;    occu- 
pied before  buying,  27; 
service    (Charlotte    P. 
Gilman),  157;  three  es- 
sentials of  a  well-built, 
25;  wife,  150,  156,  171 


INDEX 


269 


Housekeeper,  108,  157, 
171 

Housekeeper's  allow- 
ance, 68 

Houses  "built  to  sell," 

15 

Husbands,  niggardly, 
246 

Ice  (for  the  sick),  230 
Ideals,  156 
Indigestion,  147 
Injured  limb,  to  protect, 

234 

Intelligence*  offices,  144 
^n temperance,  210 
Invalids,    care    of,    220; 

toilet  of,   228;    to  lift, 

231 

Jewelry  (an  anecdote),  36 

Kerosene  oil,  to  remove 

spots,  261 
Kitchen       odors,       149; 

range,   20;    sink,    260; 

rules,  156;  utensils,  150- 

156;    window  garden, 

152 
Knife  handles,   care  of, 

174 

Landlords,  15,  16 
Leaks  (in  roof),  14 
"  Living  out,"  128 
Light   (in  halls),   85;  (in 

sick  rooms),  223 
Locks  and  locking  doors, 

64 
Lye,  261 


Manners,  163 
Matches  and  match  re- 
ceivers, 53-54 
Mats,  door,  53 
Mattresses,  41,  96,  98 
Mechanical  skill,  62 
Metal  rack  for    spoons, 

155 

Memory  and  trifles,  38 
Milk  (in  sick  room),  230 
Mistress  and  maid,  120- 

139 
Modern       methods       in 

household  service,  134 
Mops,  51 

Mosquito  bars,  232 
Mother's  "No,"  193 
Moths,  71 
Moving,   common  sense 

in,  52 

Napkins,       placing      at 

table,  167 
Neatness,  value   of,   75- 

77 
Nervous  people  and  the 

sick,  231 
Newspapers,  use  for  old, 

49.  5i 

Notebook,  the  indispen- 
sable, 24,  36,  44,  165 

Nourishment  (of  working 
women),  45 

Occupations  for  children, 

196 

Old  saying,  57 
Onions,  to  remove  odor 

of,  259 

Open  fires,  21 
Overfurnishing,  62 


270 


INDEX 


Packing,  orderly,  33;  du- 
plicate lists,  35;  with 
excelsior,  39;  kitchen 
utensils,  40;  mattresses 
and  bedding,  41 ;  mark- 
ing clearly,  41 

Pain,  the  admonishment 
of,  210 

Pantry,  174 

Parents,  187;  the  example 
of,  190 

Patience,  140 

Patients,  humoring,  237- 
238;  to  avoid  jarring, 
231 

Partnership,  239 

Peppermint  test  (for 
plumbing),  19 

Pin,  the  detective,  104 

Pillows  (for  the  sick),  220, 
231 

Plants,  inexpensive,  85- 
86 

Plate  changing,  170,  178 

Plumbing,  cellar  trap,  19; 
criminals  and,  15 

"  Poor  rich  "  wife,  243 

Position,  people  of  as- 
sured, 141 

Potatoes,  baked,  258;  to 
clean,  260 

Privacy,  79 

Pudding  or  pie,  to  serve, 
182 

Pulse,  normal,  217;  to 
count,  218 

References,  136,  137; 
writing  and  examin- 
ing, 144,  145 


Refrigerator  (in  the  sick 

room),  230 

Repairs,  estimating,  27 
Respiration,  218 
Rest,  208 

Roast,  to  serve,  180 
Romance    and     married 

life,  243,  246 

Rosebud's  mission,  a,  117 
Rover,    Red,    106,     107, 

109 
Rubber  mats,  89 

Salt  cellars,  169 

Salad,  to  serve,  179 

Sash  curtains,  74 

Screens,  70,  230 

Seamstress,  hints  for  the, 
262 

Servants,  consideration 
for,  141;  discharging, 
145;  disrespectful,  142; 
engaging,  140-144;  ide- 
al. 158;  inquiries  of, 
140;  leisure  of,  125;  re- 
spect for,  143 

Servant's  rights,  123; 
rooms,  118 

Shades,  window,  74 

Sheets  (for  the  sick),  221; 
rubber,  221;  to  change 
(for  the  sick),  232 

Shoes,  to  soften  stiff,  262 

Sick,  to  lift  the,  231 

Sick  room  cleanliness, 
228;  light  in,  223;  odors 
in,  227;  temperature  of, 
224;  visitors  in,  236 

Silver,  168,  174 

Single  beds,  68,  69 


INDEX 


271 


Smoke  damage,  22 
Snoring,  to  prevent,  264 
Social  "  caste,"    133;    er- 
rors  (Chas.    Wagner), 
142 

Soups,  to  serve,  177;  over- 
salted,  258 

Soul,  independent,  194 
Step-ladders,  47,  63 
Stovepipe,  to  clean,  260 
Subservience,  162 

Tags,  34 

Table  appointments,  169- 

171;  clearing,   171-181; 

linen,  168;  setting,  165, 

167;  side,  169 
Temperature,       normal, 

214;  to  take,  215,  217; 

of  the  sick  room,  224, 

228;  and  temperament, 

215 
Thermometer,     clinical, 

215 

Tissue  paper   (for    dust- 
ing), 261 


Tool  box,  62,  63 
Tray  cosey,  259 
Trunk  packing,  70;  stand, 
7i 

Vegetables,  to  serve,  178 
Ventilation,  14,  225,  226, 
227,  264,  265 

Wall  paper,  old,  no 
Water  closet,  91 
Waitress,   165,    176,    179, 

181,  183,  184,  185 
Washing  soda,  261 
Water  (in  the  sick  room), 

230 
Wife,  compensation  to  a, 

240 
Wife's      position,       241; 

stories,  243-246 
Widower,  241,  242 
Widowhood,  244 
Window   fastenings,   84; 

hangings,    75;   shades, 

74 

Working  women,  45 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN     INITIAL    FINE    OF    25     CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


W$j 


APR 

1933 
3  1935 


MAR    31  1938 


I 


FED    8  1941  M 


JUL  10 
?*** 


61992 

AUTO  DISC. 

JAN  0  7  199Z 
CIRCULATION 

'H272004 


V-C 


£&«£, 


tey 


i/M 


'yes 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


